Return From Canada
by GrizP
Summary: Harry Potter disappeared from Platform 9&3/4 after his first year at Hogwarts. He returns three years later with a new name and new skills. Follow James Clay as he upends the plans the Dumbledore so carefully laid. James Clay is different from the person Harry Potter would have become. Hogwarts starts at 13. HP/HG/SB/DG/TD
1. Chapter 1

Disclaimer: I do not own any characters or anything else from the wonderful mind of JKR.

This is my first story. I appreciate any constructive criticism or suggestions. Any purely negative and/or degrading comments/reviews will be ignored. Thanks.

Albus Dumbledore was sitting behind his desk thinking. His thoughts were many and varied, however his mind was constantly drawn back to a certain black haired boy. Harry Potter was an enigma for many, but Albus thought he understood the boy quite well. He was a brave, selfless, helpful, caring, and very shy young man. Albus took a lot of credit for Harry's general personality. Really the only negative aspects Albus could think of was how he seemed to push people away and shy away from any physical contact, and his rather explosive anger.

It took a lot of time to rouse Harry's anger, but once it was awakened it was really something to behold, especially for an thirteen-year-old. His anger had cowed many of the older students in his house, the house of the brave no less, and many of the teachers were a little anxious to be faced with it. His magic made things worse though, it reacted fantastically when he was anger. Harry was always a strong wizard; he could cast the first year spells all day and barely feel tired at all. When his emotions were running high Harry could cast almost any spell known it barely feel the drain on his power.

It puzzled Albus that it was possible for Harry to do that. For as long as he had been alive, well over one hundred years, Albus had never met another wizard, or witch, that could do that. Even after speaking with a few Unspeakables that he was acquainted with Albus couldn't find another case of what Harry was capable of. Either the other people like him were much better at hiding themselves, they were being hidden by the various governments that Albus had reached out to, or there was only Harry. Albus was leaning towards the only on of his kind at the moment though since he was sure that Harry would have been found out long ago and either taken or trained.

His thoughts were brought to a crashing halt when the delicate silver instruments off to the side of his office started squealing, honking, and howling. Albus was so startled by his Harry monitors that he flipped himself right out of his chair. He struggled to flip his purple with blue star spangled robes off of his head and pull his beard back from across his face, finally he gave up and used a vanishing charm on his robes. That being done he stood and strode over to the spindle legged table that looked like a rave was taking place on it with all the lights and smoke that was all over it.

"Minerva!" Albus shouted from where he stood, knowing that Hogwarts would make sure that Professor McGonagall heard his summons.

A few short, tense minutes later the stern Scotswoman rushed into the Headmasters office without knocking. Only the screech out "Albus!" while her hands shot up to cover her eyes and block the view of a very wrinkly and liver spotted hide. Luckily the important bits were covered by a pair of novelty boxer shorts printed with Mickey Mouse in wizard's robes featuring silver stars on a blue background.

"No time for that Minerva, we need to go check on Mr. Potter." Albus Dumbledore moved to grab his wand off of his desk.

"What makes you think now is a good time to check on him? What about the times that your monitors told you he was hurt? Or when they told you he was depressed, starving, or dehydrated? Why was that never the time to check on him?" McGonagall was yelling at Dumbledore now. She was becoming more and more disenchanted with the aging headmaster, mostly because of his attitude about Harry Potter.

Professor McGonagall was present on the day that Harry was left with his relatives, she was reluctant to even call them family, they just happened to share a small amount of blood with him. The boy's relatives were the worst kind of people she had ever seen. Constantly worrying about other people's opinions of them, when they weren't worrying about other people's thoughts on them they were focused on spoiling there, then, one-year-old child. Making sure that everything the child ever wanted was quickly procured for him. The professor was quite sure that the child would grow up spoiled and obnoxious. From the little she heard from Harry, she was well below the mark on how terrible she thought the child would be.

"This time is different because I am not getting any response from him at all and the blood wards I set around number four have fallen." Dumbledore tried to soothe the stern woman, but failed miserably.

"Blood wards?!" She shouted back, "Those are illegal Albus, they have been banned for centuries. What in Merlin's name were you thinking when you set those up?"

"I was only thinking of about Harry's safety. Those wards protected him and his family from discovery and danger from any magical person. The blood wards acted almost like a Fidelius charm, only the people that the wards are keyed to are able to find it. Only owls and people that have been told directions to the house can find it."

"That doesn't make them less illegal. It does explain why I couldn't get to the house to protect Harry from his relatives or to take him away from them." McGonagall's anger had burned itself out by now, she was just exasperated with Dumbledore at this point. The man did whatever he wanted, as if he was untouchable. To be fair he was pretty much untouchable. He was the leader of the Light, a leader in both national and international government, and likely the strongest wizard in the world at this point in time.

"You are right Minerva, but it was for the Greater Good." Dumbledore responded solemnly.

"The Greater Good by foot Albus! You did this to keep him out of the wizarding world, out of the public eye. You wanted to make sure he was humble and unaware of his fame. You wanted to be the man that saved him from his terrible existence. You are manipulating him to be the perfect little soldier in your fights and arguments. Wouldn't it be nice to have the Lord of several Noble and Ancient houses, by blood and deed, on your side in the Wizengamot? Albus you sicken me. Consider this my resignation." Ex-professor Minerva McGonagall didn't wait for Albus to answer her.

Minutes later Minerva McGonagall had all of her possessions packed away and ready to leave Hogwarts for good. She had written a few letters to her esteemed colleagues, explaining that she had a difference of opinion with the Headmaster. She didn't want to make the other professors choose between believing her and believing Dumbledore, she didn't know how he would react to being questioned by everyone else. He had already proven that illegality and danger mattered little to him.

While McGonagall was packing and writing Albus Dumbledore had gotten redressed to go and check on Number Four Privet Drive. He knew that his monitor spells would only have failed if Harry was dead or someone had removed them. Honestly he was hoping for the former. Harry Potter could grow into an extremely powerful person, a person that would be very dangerous if he was told about his meddling.

Shaking thoughts like those out of his head, Dumbledore knocked on the plain, cookie cutter door that matched every other one on the block. He stood there listening to the sounds of what was likely a rather large person stomping towards the door and excessive muttering about 'stupid salesman interrupting dinner like this'.

The door opened and Dumbledore was treated to the site of an extremely obese man with a walrus moustache. He found himself wondering if the man was going to be all right, even muggles faces shouldn't be that red after walking what looked like fifteen feet. He didn't get long to consider the thought though because the walrus of a man caught a glimpse of him, his eyes widened to the size of golf balls, and he tried to slam the door.

Dumbledore waved his hand and forced the door open with a quick burst of magic, only to flinch back from the door in revulsion, the man just pissed himself. "Are you Vernon Dursley?" He fought passed his revulsion.

"Get away from me you freak. I don't want anything to do with you." The walrus man stumbled back in fear, landing hard enough on his enormous backside to shake the whole house.

"I need to know where Harry Potter is. Did you pick him up from Kings Cross or did he run away since then?" Dumbledore jumped right to the heart of the matter.

"I don't know where the freak is. We waited there for four hours before we left. The freak never showed up. It's not our fault that he's not here. We're through with him, you can keep him, he is not welcome here anymore." The now named Vernon Dursley was now spitting angry and a lovely shade of scarlet.

"Thank you. You won't hear from us again. Good day sir." Albus turned with a rather impressive billowing of his robes that would make a certain greasy haired professor green with envy.

 **Three years later**

"You know, I never thought I would be happy to see this train again." I young black haired man said to himself. He was staring a scarlet steam engine for a ridiculously gaudy train. He was really not looking forward to the inquisition he was sure to face for going missing for three years. "Well might as well get this over with." He climbed onto the train and got into the nearest empty compartment her could find. It was quite easy since he was a couple hours early.

It was shortly after that when he started to hear other people in the hallway. He smiled at pretty much everyone who looked into his compartment, he was glad that his last school had ingrained politeness into him. It wasn't too hard to smile at some of the prettier girls that he saw looking in on him. They didn't teach him that, he was just partial to pretty girls.

Susan Bones was sitting on the Hogwarts Express waiting on her best friend Hannah Abbott. Eventually she couldn't wait any longer and went looking for her. She found her standing a couple of cars up in front of what appeared to be a gathering place for the entire female population of Hogwarts.

Susan grabbed her best friend by the shoulder to get her attention, "Hannah? What's going on?"

"Oh hey Sue. There is a super hot guy in that car. He's new, no one has seen him before." She explained excitedly. She was always a little boy crazy, even when they were only thirteen and in first year. Now it was even worse since she hit puberty.

Hannah turned back to try and see this new guy, even though she had no chance to see in with all the other people milling around. Susan took the time to check her friend out. She hadn't seen Hannah for most of the summer, she was touring France with her family. Turns out that she grew a lot over the summer. Only in the chest and bum though. Her body was curvy and toned now rather than just toned.

Hannah had always exercised to keep healthy, a habit passed down from her first generation mother. Her chest filled out to around a C cup and her bum rounded out nicely into a lovely heart shape and her waist was trim in between. Underneath the cute beige cardigan there was likely the hints of a six pack because she wouldn't work hard enough to get one, she thought they were ugly. It actually kind of pissed her off that Hannah was able to stay trim so easily.

"Alright, well I'm going back to my compartment. When you get bored you should come sit with me." She watched Hannah nod emphatically, then freeze. "What happened? Did he blow a kiss at you?" Susan smiled at the thought of Hannah swooning over some new guy.

"Susan? Susan Bones is that you?" A male voice spoke out from the crowd.

Susan gasped and whirled around quickly enough that her lovely red hair flew into her face despite the tight braid she kept it in. She knew that voice, she heard it almost every day over the summer, but he couldn't be here, he lived in Canada. Well that and he was a Muggle. She met him in Jasper, almost the opposite side of the country from England. There was no way James Clay was here going to her school for magic.

"I knew I smelled your perfume. I've always loved it, even if you wouldn't tell me what it is." Hannah was staring, slack jawed, between the new guy and her best friend, who apparently knew each other.

"J-J-James? Is that really you?" Her voice shook, hell her hands were shaking. This guy had wormed his way into her heart. She was reluctant to say she loved him after only two months, but it definitely could have developed that way really easily.

"Yeah. I never expected you to be here. I mean I thought I could sense magic on you, but I never thought that it was strong enough for you to actually be a witch. Let me guess, Amelia Bones is your mom and she put a glamour and magic block on you for your trip?"

"Yes, uhhh, no, kind of. It was mostly right. Aunt Amelia is, well, my Aunt." Susan answered.

"Oh I see. Well since you were honest with me, I'll be honest with you. First though, could I get a hug?" He didn't quite give her an option to refuse though. He moved forward with fluid self assured steps that come from years of dance, or intense martial training.

His arms quickly wrapped around her slender body. They brought the same warmth that they always did. Whenever she was in his arms she felt like nothing could hurt her, that she was safe from everything in the world. Even though she felt a little upset about James lying to her she couldn't help wrapping her arms around him and snuggling her head into his muscular chest.

Susan didn't want to let go, but she also wanted to know what he was going to say, "So what is it you were going to tell me?"

"My real name, but first I would like some more privacy for that." He bent and swept her up into a bridal carry then while she was shocked and blushing a lovely pink he looked to Hannah, "Hello darling, could you please get the door for us? You could probably join us. I'm assuming you're the best friend she was talking about."

Hannah was stunned still, not only did Susan know this hunk of a man, but they also looked like they were an item for at least a little. It took a nudge from a newly re-cuddled Susan to get her moving to open the door to the compartment.

"Thank you." James set Susan down on the bench at sat across from her, Hannah joined Susan as soon as she shut the door. "Alright girls so you want to know the truth about who I am?"

Hannah was practically bouncing in her seat, "Yes, please! Tell me or I'm going to explode."

After the laughter cleared from Hannah's outburst Susan answered, "So James Clay isn't your real name?"

"Well it kind of is. My real middle name is James and my last name is re to Clay. I apologize for lying but it was my assumed name when I left the UK. I couldn't rightly tell you who I really was, especially not if I knew the truth about who you were. I'm pretty sure that your aunt would be very excited to find me after I disappeared from the Hogwarts express three years ago." He grinned a crooked smile that made his emerald green eyes light up beneath his midnight black bangs.

James could see the gears turning. It made him laugh a little. There couldn't be that many people that went missing from Hogwarts three years ago. Especially not people that would have the DMLE looking for them. Realization didn't take long to light up Susan's face, he liked it when her intelligence was on display like that.

Before Hannah could figure it out or Susan could say anything the window in the door lit up with a bright red light.

"Sorry ladies, I need to step out for a moment and solve a problem. I will be right back, please don't leave or let anyone else in. I'm not quite ready to let everyone else know who I really am. I transferred in under James Clay." When the girls reluctantly nodded he got up and hurried away to wear the alarm he set came from.

He learned a lot while he was in Canada. One of the first things that they had taught him was detection wards. Most importantly they taught him how to code the wards to a certain person, or persons. Fortunately, he remembered how Hermione's magical signature felt. The ward had just notified him that she stepped onto the train. Unfortunately, it also notified him of a malignant presence following her.

James moved fast, very fast, all he could think was _'I need to move faster, I haven't felt a presence like this since I ran into Malfoy senior last week._ ' He dodged and weaved through the crowds of children in the hallway, she was only three cars away just far enough away to make it a pain in the ass to get there through everyone.

James was lucky, who ever the malignant presence was waited until they were both well onto the train and out of parental supervision. James was excited to see his first, real, best friend again. Yea Ron was his first friend, but he just couldn't compete against Hermione for the best friend status. From the looks of it Malfoy Junior was about to do his sterling best to make sure she could never fill that hole in his life again, based on the ritual knife that was currently poised to strike down at the base of her pale milky neck.

Another thing they taught James in Canada was the use of various weapons, including thrown weapons, with a particular emphasis on throwing knives. He flicked his wrist to drop the knife into his hand then a quick snap of his lower arm sent it flying out towards the blonde ponce of a pureblood supremacist.

"What the fuck?" Malfoy yelled, it was cool how his hair didn't shift at all when his head flew back and forth looking for the culprit. "Whoever did that is going to pay when my Father hears of this!"

"Go ahead Malfoy Junior. Write your Father a letter, make sure he knows that you are being picked on and is completely incapable of doing anything to protect yourself because you're such a huge disappointment." James laughed at Malfoy's growing outrage, he couldn't even do much more than yell at him. Having an arm pinned to the wall by a knife through his very expensive jacket sleeve tended to make it difficult to act on anything. It helped that his wand holster was also attached to that arm and was therefore, inaccessible.

"Who the hell are you? You'll pay for this." Malfoy spluttered as he tried, and failed, to remove the knife.

"Yea, yea, you told me that all of first year Draco." James smirked, turned to the beautiful, bushy haired person, "Hermione would you like to join me in my compartment?"

"Do I know you?" She was skittish, that's not what he was hoping to find. When he held his hand out to her she backed away and folded into herself.

"You did. Not so much now, but I would like to get to know you again. If you come with me you can join myself, Susan Bones and Hannah Abbott. I promise you'll want to hear what I have to say." He held out his hand again, this time to take her trunk.

"Susan and Hannah are there?" James nodded, "Okay I'll come with you."

"Will you let me take your luggage? It looks like you're struggling with it there." The crooked grin made a reappearance. It finally pulled a little smile out of the brunette witch.

"I am. Thank you. Be careful, it's kind of heavy with all the books I have in there." She gamely dragged the trunk over in front of James, who responded with a bark of laughter and hefted it off the floor onto his shoulder.

Hermione looked at him with wide eyes. Her dad was a fit man and it took him both hands to lift it into the boot of the car, this gorgeous stranger just lifted it like it was a normal shopping bag. She liked mysteries, it was why she stayed at Hogwarts despite all the ridicule and abuse, she just needed to learn more. This random guy with beautiful long black hair that was messy on top, bangs framing his face, and the rest pulled into a tail by a leather strip completely threw her whole idea of how this new world worked. He could have cast a wandless and silent featherweight charm, but Hermione was fairly certain that she would have felt a little flair of magic.

She didn't even notice that she was lost in her thoughts again, it seemed to be happening more and more often lately. She had been losing whole hours over the summer while doing homework or research at her desk or on her bed. Hermione finally snapped out of her trance-like state when she heard a door close behind her.

"Hermione? Is that you?" Hannah asked, startled by the appearance of her bushy haired friend.

"Hmm, oh, hi Hannah. Sorry I kind of spaced out there. Hello to you as well Susan." Hermione let out her first genuine smile since she had last seen her friends on the platform at the end of last year.

"I see that you met James. I didn't think that he would come back with another girl, but I can't say that I'm surprised, he is quite nice to look at. It doesn't help that he always seems to be in the right place at the right time to save you." Susan sighed, remembering all the different ways that he had to protect her over the summer hols in the mundane world.

"What? No. Well he did save me, but it was only Malfoy playing that stupid prank with the knife again. It was rather nice of him to carry my trunk all the way here. I didn't really notice how he looked, I got lost in my thoughts after he picked up my trunk." Hermione seemed less than impressed with James.

"You think that athame was just a joke?" James asked, incredulous that no one had noticed how dark the object was. Was everyone at this school completely clueless? Or did no one care about other students? It wouldn't really surprise James that the aging Headmaster was totally unconcerned with the state of the student body.

"Yea when he stabs it into someone it just makes them tired." Susan explained like it wasn't a huge deal.

"That's ridiculous. That is one of the darkest items I've seen in a long time. It's an athame that draws out the magical power of the person stabbed. After the power is drawn out it creates a block in the person's magical core. Susan have you and Hannah been stabbed with this knife too?" The girls gasped at his explanation. They nodded emphatically at James, hoping there was some more information forthcoming.

"Well I've got good news and bad news." The girls shifted to the edge of their seats, sitting on pins and needles waiting for both kinds of news, "I do know how to reverse the damage done, it will actually increase your magical strength to have your core refilled after suffering like it has." The girls looked like Christmas came early

"That is so cool! We're usually at the top of the class in magical power already. If we get a boost like that then there will be almost no one that can match us in outright power." Hannah was practically bouncing in her seat, excited to be so powerful.

"Yea that's all well and good, but the bad news might make you think twice about that. The ritual requires three very particular things. Well the only one that I know of anyways, there might be other ones out there." James finished with a thoughtful expression.

"Well what is this bad news that you think might make us change our mind?" Hermione asked, getting right to the point, as per usual.

"Well first it will require you all to be completely naked and I will have to draw all of the required symbols on you in a special kind of mud." The girls all blushed and refused to meet his eyes at this, but motioned him to keep going, "Second it will have to be done outside, likely in the Forbidden Forest, underneath a full moon. The first one after we get to school will be in about three weeks."

"The Forbidden Forest? We aren't allowed in there as students though. It's supposed to be super dangerous for regular people to go in there, Professor Hagrid is the only person that goes in there with no fear, but that's because nothing can really hurt him I think." Susan seemed a little scared at the thought.

"Trust me. Nothing in there will bother me, unless it's another person, but even then I'm fairly sure that I could at least hold them off long enough for you guys to get away, after that I could really cut loose." James grinned at the prospect of really letting loose, he hadn't been able to do that for almost a year now.

"Well I am well aware of your physical prowess." Susan stated blithely, until Hannah giggled and elbowed her in the ribs suggestively. That caused her recently receded blush to return with a vengeance.

"You aren't even close to well aware of the extent of what I can do without magic. I've never even used more that five percent of the physical power I can bring to bear. I can do ten times that amount by channelling magic into my body. That is not the point right now though." James was getting side tracked, but tried to take the focus off of Susan's Freudian slip, which earned him a thankful smile from the red haired beauty.

"The third requirement is probably the deal breaker for you ladies. While I'm doing the magical direction of the ritual you will have to, umm, how do I say this politely?" He was reluctantly to put this bluntly, it needed a little bit of finesse at least. "Ah I got it! You'll need to reach a peak before the ritual is over. Actually the more times that you reach a peak the more successful the ritual will be. You guys have filled some very specific requirements. The last time this ritual was able to be used was for Morgana. I think you're all well aware of what she accomplished in her lifetime."

The girls all tried to keep a straight face and really think about the possible positives that could come from completing this ritual. Hannah and Susan were quite open about their physical bodies with each other, but not quite to that extent, just being naked around each other in their dorm room and during the summers when they are together. They had been friends since they were tots and went through puberty together so it was natural for them to not worry about each other seeing the other in various states of undress.

In a completely unexpected move it was Hermione that got over her extreme embarrassment first, "Would the problems I've been having focusing, falling asleep at the most inopportune moments, even my body has been unresponsive at times. Would it help those?" She seemed desperate, bordering on hysterical. This must have been causing her anxiety, severe anxiety apparently.

"Most likely, but if those are the problems you've been experiencing then you have probably been attacked far more often than the others. If you don't mind I would like to examine your core, if it is really bad I can give you a quick boost from my own reserves of magic." James sounded genuinely concerned about Hermione's well being.

Hermione had by necessity gotten very good at judging whether or not a person meant her harm. She liked to think it was exceptional skill at reading people, but subconsciously she knew that it was her magic telling her the intentions of a person. She was surprised to find that this strange boy, no young man, had absolutely no intention besides making sure that she was healthy. Usually there was always the intention to help her so she would help them in turn, mostly revolving around school work. James only wanted to help her, no alternative motive at all.

"I would like to know the actual extent of the damage, now that I'm aware of it. However, I'm reluctant to say yes based on the ritual to repair the damage, until I am fully aware of what this test anyways."

"Well I'll need to touch the bare skin of your stomach and your back. The magical core of a woman sits right above the area between the tips of her hip bones, right below where the actual stomach is. I need to pass my magic through your core between my hands. It will give me a good idea of where your magic is currently at and where it should be at based on the size of your core." James explained the method he would use in depth. He knew Hermione would want to know as much as she could about it.

"So I'm going to have to take my shirt off for this?" She asked skeptically. Her thoughts immediately going to him being a pervert.

"No, not at all. You will just have to pull it up to a little over your belly button so the top of my hand can sit right over top of it. The hand on your back will be directly across from it." He explained earnestly.

"Can you do that for us too?" Susan asked timidly. She remembered exactly what James' hands felt like when they were on you and didn't want to miss out on the opportunity, it might be her last chance after all.

"Well that could be arranged, but let's wait until the train is moving at least. I am expecting at least one person more to want to join us here. They are likely going to need to complete the ritual for her too. Malfoy hit a lot of the people in his own house and this person seemed like she was hit pretty hard when I met two summers ago." James tried to explain himself without saying it was another girl, he didn't want to seem like he was just looking after girls.

"Another girl?" Susan's head snapped up at the mention of this new person being female.

' _Damn, I messed up.'_ James thought, ' _Oh well, might as well give them all the information about her.'_

"Yeah she had some summer schooling at the academy that I studied at for the last three years. She is a Slytherin fifth year, actually you ladies probably know her. Daphne Greengrass?" James explained rather quickly, trying to get it all out before he was interrupted.

' _Daphne? How can I compete with someone like her? She is the definition of beauty. All I've got going for me is a cute face and big boobs.'_ Susan thought to herself with a crestfallen expression stamped on her face.

"Yes we know Daphne. She isn't like some of the other bigoted members of her House. It seems to get her in trouble with some of the more powerful members of her House. It has brought about the 'Ice Queen' persona that she wears like armour. It has probably saved her life a couple times, but now she's worried about her little sister. She recently started to have a woman's body and Daphne is afraid that some of the male students will go after her sister to get back at her for all the grief she has caused them." Hannah was the gossip monger in the group and didn't disappoint at this point.

"Ah yes I had heard about her beloved little sister. She had come to my school in the hopes of learning something that would help her protect herself and her sister. That is actually where she learned a lot of what got her the title of Ice Queen I imagine."

"Oh? And what exactly is taught at this school of yours?" Hannah was in full gossip mode now.

"Well I can't tell you what they taught her, that is her business and not mine to tell. I can tell you about what they taught me though, if you really want to hear it?" James smiled at the girls.

"Yes! Tell us! I think Susan really wants a private lesson about what you have learned later tonight." She winked at James, letting him know that she was just messing with Susan.

"Well they did have a couple courses that I took for night time activities." He husked back, winking discretely back at Hannah since both Hermione and Susan were looking down at their shoes.

"Wha- What? I don't really want to know what they taught you!" Susan stuttered and stumbled over her denial even as she felt her center moisten and her nipples harden at the thought of special night time lessons from James.

"No? You don't want to learn stealth tactics and how to be properly sneaky?" James laughed at her reaction to his offer.

"That's what they taught you for night time activities? I can't believe that they taught you stuff like that. What about normal magic stuff?" Susan asked, she was very good at getting over embarrassment after being best friends with Hannah for so long.

"They didn't teach us much of that at all. It was mostly elemental and martial training. The school I went to trains warriors and assassins, not school teachers and librarians. We had a couple classes on field healing and basic magic that can be used in war, but that's about it. Self study on normal everyday magic was encouraged, but not required to graduate." James loved the looks on the girls faces, but he could already see the questions forming in their heads.

"Before you ask questions just listen for a little longer. If certain conditions are met by a man and woman before conception of their child, the child will be born with an elemental affinity. Making them able to perform some incredible feats of magic with that element. Especially after training it can provide those Elementals, as they are called, with special abilities revolving around their element." He was in a full on lecture mode that made Hermione a little excited, in more than one way.

"For example I am an Earth Elemental. My body is extremely strong in most any way that you can think of. I'm immune to all poisons, natural and man made, I heal extremely fast, I need next to no sleep to function properly, and my physical strength and stamina are exceptional, even for an Earth Elemental. I have multiple animagus forms and I'm extremely in tune with nature and its various occupants. I can even talk to the more intelligent animals, or at least communicate in some way." James didn't really want to go much more in depth and only would if someone asked a specific question.

"Before you ladies ask any questions I have to let our other guest know that this is our compartment." James stood abruptly, his wards letting him know that Daphne was about to board the train.

He slid the compartment door open looked both ways. He spotted her deep black hair bobbing up the steps with who he assumed was Tracey Davis following right behind him. He didn't want to draw attention to who he was looking for again. Slytherin was notorious for causing problems when one of their number fraternized outside of their House.

Thinking quick he let out a high pitched whistle that lowered consistently. He waited until he knew that Daphne was paying attention before reaching up and knocking on the wood above his door. Three knocks, third compartment, two knocks, right side, two quick followed by two slow knocks to let her know the password. Ducking back inside he was met by confused stares from the girls, he just grinned back at them and motioned for them to wait.

A few second later two quick knocks followed by two slow knocks sounded out against the door. James stood up to open the door. He quickly ushered the two Slytherin girls into the compartment, hoping to get them in before anyone else saw who they were joining. He closed the sliding door and waved a hand at it causing the door to seal itself and the window to be swallowed by the wood.

"Well now that no one can see inside, do I get a hug?" James held his arms out in askance.

Daphne looked at him with obvious disdain. Everything from her posture to her expression screamed stay away, or else. She had the 'Ice Queen' mask in full effect. Most any male would be sweating under her apathetic stare, but James just continued hold his arms out and affected a pout, barely able to keep it on his face instead of a grin.

It only took a few more seconds before Daphne cracked under her own desire to hug the well built man in front of her. Without warning she launched her entire body at him, knowing without a doubt that he would be able to catch her with no problem. She wrapped her arms around his neck at the same time his arms wound around her waist. It immediately filled her with the feeling of safety and warmth that she missed ever since they parted a year and a bit ago.

"You would not believe how much I've missed this James." She whispered into his ear, "You're the only person that I could ever be close to like this and not have it seem like I'm trying to make alliances with some house. With you it's just a hug between two people that car about each other." She sighed at the end, but it was a happy sigh not the usual frustrated sigh that was heard from Daphne.

Tracey and the other girls were agog, mouths hanging open in complete and total surprise. Here was the Slytherin Ice Queen, hugging someone, and smiling while she was doing it. This girl had frozen grown men with her glare, even the Headmaster was reluctant to cross her.

"Daphne? Who the hell is this? And what the fuck are you hugging him?" Tracey was getting hysterical. She didn't know what the hell was happening. Daphne had literally never acted like this before, not in the many years that Tracey had known her.

"Uh, well. I met him when I went to that special academy to learn how to protect myself and my sister." She blushed, which was also a first for Ice Queen Daphne. "Actually he was the instructor of my whole course load while I was there."

"Daphne, you minx. I can't believe you seduced your instructor." Tracey got over her hysteria in record time. Something to tease Daphne about would always bring her playful side out, especially because it didn't happen very often.

Daphne tried to deny everything but all she could do was splutter while the other girls laughed at her blushing. Eventually James decided they had let them laugh at Daphne's expense long enough.

"Alright guys, that's enough teasing." He told the still snickering girls, "Besides she didn't seduce me, it was the other way around and that was after classes were over." He smirked at the shock on their faces.

"That is fantastic. You are so adorable when you are flustered Daphne." Hannah gushed at the unexpectedly unreserved Slytherin.

Daphne was slow to let go of James, but she eventually did. "You told me that you would be coming back this year, but I didn't really believe you. I thought you were just trying to let me down easily." Daphne whispered into his chest, "I'm really sorry I thought so little of you."

"Don't worry about it Daph. I didn't expect you to believe me after your experience with Craig. I'm glad that you remembered the code though. I wasn't sure if you would understand what was going on. It has been a while after all, right?" James laughed and waved off her apology.

"So you guys really dated?" Susan asked softly, her head dropping in despair. She was really hoping that they could pick back up where they left off last week. It looks like she would be put off to the side for a more fit, statuesque woman.

Her eyes were focused on her shoelaces when they started to get blurry. ' _God I'm starting to tear up. How pathetic.'_ She felt a rough hand lightly grip her chin and full her head up. She was practically nose to nose with James, she was instantly reminded of how expressive his eyes could be. She could see the deep concern and caring in their emerald depths. Susan didn't look away from his gorgeous greens until he reached up and wiped her yet to be shed tears away with his thumbs.

"Hey, there's no reason to cry Susy. We can be friends all year now. Isn't that exciting? Definitely not a reason to cry." James grinned his lovely grin, making Susan's heart flutter and causing her to smile in response despite her feeling like crying still.

"She doesn't know does she?" Daphne asked the young man, her voice showing none of the condescension or haughtiness that the other girls, aside from Tracey, had come to know. It appears that Daphne was actually just a really good actor, not a bitch, since everyone could tell that this was the real Daphne.

"No. We didn't meet like you and I, Daph. She thought I was just a normal Canadian muggle that was working in Jasper for the summer. I thought she was just a beautiful, but proper English Lady. She proved me wrong pretty quickly, but I still thought she was a muggle too." He finished with a laugh, Tracey and Hannah joining him, even Hermione and Daphne smiled.

Despite the humor James tried to inject into the situation, likely intending to deflect the conversation away from that topic, Susan caught that Daphne knew something that she didn't. She tried to figure it out based on context. The only thing she could come up with was that he was seeing someone else back in Canada. This caused a deep feeling of sadness in Susan.

Luckily Hermione pulled her out of her sudden depression by asking, "What do you know that Susan doesn't Daphne?" This earned a thankful glance from Hannah, who did not want to deal with a crying and miserable Susan.

"Well Elementals have a lot of bonuses that come with being who they are, but there are always some negative aspects to every power. Elementals wield enormous amounts of strength, every type has different ones, but most of them have two or three huge drawbacks." Daphne started to lecture, almost like a professor, "Take my Ice Element for example. I can create ice at will by using power I draw from my magical core, or if I'm lucky I can draw it from my environment if it's cold enough. I can use ice to cover and help heal my injuries, I can automatically cool anything down just by touching it, I can even create snow around myself, but that is really draining unless I have someone else to help me with fueling the magic."

She looked at the three girls that knew nothing of what she was capable of as an Elemental. Their complete attention was on her, totally enrapt with her explanation. She let a small smirk grow on her face. It was very rare that she said anything worth listening to, even then it was usually only Tracey that would actually listen to her, so it was kind of exciting to have three of the top witches in her year so focused on what she was saying.

"Alright. I assume that those were all the positive aspects of being an Ice Elemental. It sounds pretty useful. It's too bad that there is no way to learn it." Hermione was actually taking notes in a spiral bound notebook she always kept on her, just in case.

"Well you can't learn to do exactly what I can, but everyone does have an elemental affinity that makes it easier to cast those elemental spells. It's unlikely that you will be able to cast without a wand, but your control will be considerable and the actual drain on your core will be negligible." James tossed out offhandedly.

"Yes, I'm sure James even has some elemental affinity paper on him so we can test each of you at some point." James grunted an affirmative. "Good. Now back to what I was explaining. So those were the most prominent positives, actually the last one was just something that I can do that I think is pretty cool. Now, the negative aspects. I am extremely weak in hot temperatures, especially so in dry temperatures, by that I mean I can't use my element at all, normal magic is perfectly okay and I still love to go to hot places for vacations. Another big negative is my aversion to fire, natural or unnatural, it makes it very difficult to do a lot of everyday things."

"Alright that does sounds a little bit annoying, but how does it make a lot of things hard?" Hannah asked, not quite understanding how it makes anything actually hard.

"I didn't really explain it that well I guess. By aversion I meant that being too close to a fire drains my energy and makes it hard to focus. I can't sit by the fire and read with my little sister, I find it difficult to complete any of the longer potions properly. I got lucky that I'm really good at the preparation part. The first half of the potion really goes well until I lose focus and start to make little mistakes." Daphne went into further detail on her biggest weakness.

"Alright. Thanks for telling us that. Takes a lot of trust to tell what are essentially strangers your biggest weakness." Susan said sincerely, "That's all very interesting. It doesn't really explain what it is that I don't know about James though."

Daphne looked to where James was sitting, only to find him staring down at his clenched fists. His knuckles were standing out in white relief from how hard he was clenching and blood was running out of the bottom of his hands. His glamour had slipped from his arms Daphne noticed, she had only seen that happen once before, it wasn't a pleasant experience. She could see the angry red of new scars and the faded white of the older ones, obviously from long before he began his dangerous elemental training.

Without looking up James whispered, "Go ahead Daphne, I don't really want to hide anything like that from people I'm close to."

"Are you sure?" James hummed an affirmative, "Okay. So there are a few different negative things that can come from an Earth Element. Usually the more strength you have in an element the more of the negative you get. James is pretty much the most powerful Earth Elemental since the dark ages, in theory anyways. Nobody actually has any proof that there was ever a stronger one. Now the biggest negative is also a positive. Strong Earth Elementals have increased instincts and senses. All five senses are at least five times more sensitive than a normal witch or wizard, James' are closer to ten times. Now the instincts are the worst part, in my opinion, every instinct is increased, including the instinct to mate and reproduce." She finished softly, almost like she was trying to soften the blow this would be to Susan.

Who was actually quite calm about the whole thing. She was looking directly at Daphne with a small little smile on her face when she asked, "So what you're saying is James' strength basically forces a hugely overactive libido on him? He pretty much wants to sleep with a bunch of women all the time?"

Daphne didn't even have to pause, she was expecting this question, she asked the same time. She promptly answered, "Yes and no. His instincts essential force him to find multiple viable mates to ensure the continuation of his genetic make up. They usually make it so he would be attracted to strong females, capable of producing powerful offspring. It's likely why he is attracted to the two of us, we're two of the strongest witches in our year." Daphne wasn't smug, but she did radiate a little bit of pride at that.

"Four." James said shortly.

"What?" Both Daphne and Susan asked in perfect stereo. Then they looked at each other awkwardly before looking back at James with intensity.

"Four. There are four of you in this compartment that I'm attracted to. Four of the most powerful witches in the school, let alone your year." He finished grimly.

"Alright. Well there are five girls in this compartment. Which one is it that you're not attracted to?" Hermione questioned him. Already turning pink at the thought of this rugged man finding her attractive.

"Hannah." Hearing this caused Hannah's face to fall, she knew she wasn't the most attractive girl, but it still hurt to hear it. "That's not because she isn't attractive though, or because she's not powerful. It's because her elemental affinity is Air, the anti-thesis of Earth."

Daphne gasped in surprise, and everyone looked to her, even Hannah, who was done moping now that she was told that she was in fact physically attractive. "What? How could you tell?" Her mind was going a mile a minute. It shouldn't be possible for someone to tell what element a person had an affinity for without seeing them use it or affinity paper. She was trying to figure out if James had seen her use any spells, but from the look on Hermione and Susan's faces they couldn't figure it out either.

"I'm possibly the most powerful Earth Elemental ever born. My senses are so heightened that the Academy couldn't even accurately test them. I scored a completely perfect score even with seven dampening seals on me. I still use three at all times. I could go into sensory overload if I take the all off, then I'm useless. I'm trying to slowly wean myself off of them all together though. A huge weakness of mine is really loud, high pitch noises, renders me incapable of doing anything except covering my ears." James explained to Daphne, who was the only person that understood exactly what that meant.

Daphne was going to ask more questions, but James held up his hand. Daphne knew it wasn't meant to be rude. James was just not going to answer anymore questions about it at this time, possibly not ever.

"You might want to sit down. The train is about to start moving. As soon as we get up to speed I'm going to start the core examinations. I'll start with Hermione, hers is obviously the most damaged at this point, then Tracey, Susan and Daphne last."

"What about me?" Hannah asked, a tremor in her voice.

"I would love to check your core Hannah, but your magic would automatically reject mine. I wouldn't be able to actually do it at all. Luckily my magic has very little to do with the ritual, so we can still do that. The only thing that has changed is that I'm not capable of telling you how much of a change it will make."

Hannah didn't ask anymore questions or acknowledge what James said with anything more than a nod. Everyone realized fairly quickly that nothing was going to happen until the train was well on its way to Hogsmeade. Daphne and Tracey sat on the right side of James who was against the window of the compartment, with Daphne forcing her way into the seat next to James. Tracey was reluctant to give up the seat next to James since he essentially admitted to being attracted to her. She couldn't believe she kept standing with Daphne the whole time since they got there, she should have capitalized and sat next to the hunk while Daphne was lecturing everybody.

The moment the two sat down and settled back into their seats with everyone else the train shifted and started to crawl forward. James still hadn't sat back or stopped looking at his clenched fists. They weren't bleeding anymore and had likely healed, nor were they clenched so tight that they were both red and white. His scars were still present and accounted for though, Tracey glanced down and thought 'I want to know more about him. And here I thought I was into chicks.' Hers was the only smile in the entire compartment, but that didn't bother her as she looked around at her new found friends and possible new found lovers.


	2. Chapter 2

Disclaimer: I do not own any characters or anything else from the wonderful mind of JKR.

This is my first story. I appreciate any constructive criticism or suggestions. Any purely negative and/or degrading comments/reviews will be ignored. Thanks.

The scarlet engine pumped out a plume of steam when it started to pull away from its platform. Carrying its precious cargo towards the premier magical school of Great Britain, all of Europe if you talked to the right people. The boarding school in question was a magical place, literally. Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry taught the magical arts to magical children from age thirteen to twenty. It taught all sorts of things to its students, including Defense Against the Dark Arts, Charms, Transfiguration, and Potions, to name a few.

James Clay was sitting in one of the compartments on the Hogwarts Express, carefully staring down at his scarred knuckles, deliberately not looking at any of the other occupants of the compartment. Oddly enough he was the only straight male that would not be leering at the beautiful ladies he was sitting with.

On his right side he had the beautiful 'Ice Queen' of Slytherin, Daphne Greengrass. She long, straight, deep black hair down to her shoulder blades that provided and stunning contrast to her ice blue eyes that could hold back a mountain troll with their glare. Her figure was fantastic, toned and statuesque. She didn't have the wide rounded curves that some women had, but her assets were nothing to scoff at either. She had a perfectly perky heart shaped bum, and gravity defying, perfectly rounded B cup breasts. Her face had an aristocratic look to it with high cheekbones and lovely red cupids bow lips, they weren't overly plump, but they weren't thin either.

On Daphne's other side was Tracey Davis. She was shorter than Daphne's five foot nine at only five foot four, but she had far more pronounced curves. Her chest was a heavy D cup and her bum was more bubbly, but was still toned. Her hair was a dark chestnut brown the settled down in curls on her shoulders of creamy, smooth skin. It was amazing the way her elfin face and lovely hazel eyes lit up with a mischievous grin, her damn near perfect smile could melt anybody's heart. She apparently had a defiant side since she didn't appear to be wearing a bra.

Across from James was the bushy haired bookworm known as Hermione Granger. The bushy hair was a light brown color, so light that after a summer under the sun in France it looked almost entirely blonde. Her figure was a mix between Daphne and Tracey, she was short like Tracey at around five foot five, but had the same breast and bum size of Daphne. Her bum was more bubbly by little and her breasts sat a little lower on her chest than Daphne, but that was really the only difference. Her deep chocolate brown eyes held an razor sharp intelligence and intense thirst for knowledge that was rarely seen outside of child prodigies.

Beside her was Susan Bones, the niece of Amelia Bones, head of the DMLE. She had deep crimson hair that was cut short and straight at the tops of her shoulders. She was curvy in a way that almost nobody on the planet could match, her chest was enormous, at least an E cup, and her bum was tight and large, not fat mind you, but not small by any stretch of the world. It was just the way her body was built, Susan ate healthy and exercised every day, she was incredibly fit underneath the gorgeous curves. Her eyes were a deep cerulean of the ocean at dawn and they held all of her emotions front and center for everyone to see. Her face proved that she was fit, it was a face that a person could stare at for hours. Most would call it cute over beautiful, especially so when she was blushing, which happened a lot when one is as shy as she is.

On her other side sat Hannah Abbott and strawberry blonde that kept in shape just enough to not gain weight and stay healthy. Her body was svelte with C cup breasts and a tight heart shaped bum. She stood the same height as Susan at five foot seven. She was always smiling and happy, her forest green eyes held only happiness and joy in them, as if she hadn't known loss or sadness yet.

James Clay was a well built young man that all of the beauties in his compartment were glancing at every few seconds, as if waiting for him to make a move. He had long midnight black hair that had blue highlights in it. It reached to about mid way down his back, tied at the base of his neck with a strip of leather. It was straight at the back, messy on top and had two bangs framing his face. They made his emerald green eyes really pop out of his tanned face, not that they needed it to be noticeable. They almost glowed with restrained power. He was built like a professional swimmer, or a well trained warrior. Relatively small whipcord muscles that held deceptive strength lined his body, completely defined, even at rest due to his insane work out routine.

"James?" Hermione attempted to get James' attention, only to fail, "James!" She only raised her voice a little, but the stern tone managed to snap him out of his musing.

"Huh? What?" He answered less than intelligently, like any man coming out of a serious zone out.

"We were asking if now was a good time to start the core evaluations?" Susan asked, now that she was over her little mini depression she seemed to be a little more outspoken again.

James smiled back happily. His grin was so convincing that if Susan and Hermione weren't watching him as carefully as they were they would almost think that he wasn't just lost in an obviously painful memory. It appears that the talk about his instincts had drug up something from his past that he wasn't exactly fond of.

"Yes. We should get started as soon as we can. Does anyone remember who was going to go first?" He asked, a mischievous smirk on his face.

Hermione let out an exasperated sigh. She was just getting ready to lecture when she remembered the look on his face from before. As soon as she opened her mouth to ask him about it Susan caught her eye. As soon as Susan could tell that Hermione was paying attention to her, she shook her head discretely, silently signaling to Hermione to leave it alone.

"James you said it was me. According to you I was likely to be the most restricted one out of the five of us." Hermione still sounded exasperated, but less so than before.

"Alright. What I want you to do is stand here in front of me, facing the inside of the train. I'm going to need you to get right up against the seat here with your leg." He lightly patted the edge of the scarlet cloth covered seat, right between his legs. Then he smiled at the light blush that showed itself with a light pink dusting on her cheeks.

"Really? Are you sure I need to be that close to you?" Hermione asked skeptically, not entirely sure that that was really all that necessary or if James was just trying to make her uncomfortable.

"Yes really. I need to be able to wrap my arms all the way around you to complete the circle. I assume you know the importance of a circle in many magical applications." Her nod confirmed his theory on her general knowledge level being a bit higher than any other person they're age at Hogwarts. "Good. The circle will help me focus my magic through your core. It should also give your magic a small boost until we can get the actual ritual completed."

"Well that sounds good. I'm looking forward to being able to properly focus again. Will your little magic boost help me with that? I've noticed that just being around you has kind of helped me a little. I haven't spaced out at all since I've been in your compartment."

"It will actually help your focus. How much? I can't say an exact amount, but it should hold you over for a couple days. Seeing as how we're not going to be able to do the ritual for a few weeks I can give you what is essentially a magic infusion every three or four days. It won't require quite as much time or skin contact as this." James reassured Hermione.

Hermione was satisfied with James' answer. Nobody had ever really been interested in her body, so she wasn't really worried about him just trying to cop a feel. She thought she actually had a pretty fantastic body, but she always wore baggy clothes that hid her figure and never made an effort to tame her hair and look nice.

She was still reluctant to pull her shirt up and bare even a small part of her body to this stranger even if she felt some ridiculously strong connection to him, but she did it because she knew that it would benefit her search for knowledge, not to mention her general health. She expected his arms to be a little cool, similar to how a doctor's hands always seem to be cool when you're getting a check up. James' arms and hands were warm to the touch though, like how the ground feels on a warm summer day.

While he was getting his magic flowing to close the circle that his arms made around the extremely attractive witch James decided to continue explaining the second part of Hermione's question to her. "You said that you were focusing better just being in the compartment here right?" A shy nod, "It's because when you're in a magic rich environment your body is constantly drawing in ambient magic. I'm going to hazard a guess and say your focus is better while you're at Hogwarts, right?" Hermione hummed in affirmative, "Good. That means your core is still functioning properly. Now the reason you're focusing better here is because I am putting out a huge amount of magic pretty much constantly, my body generates magic even when my core is completely full. All the extra that I produce is released into the area around me. Everybody here will be absorbing my magic, which is more potent even than a regular wizard's so it will fill you with stronger magic than you're used to."

Before Hermione could formulate a response past the intense feeling of warmth that had curled up in the pit of her stomach and embarrassingly enough, at the apex of her thighs, James started the core test. If she thought the warmth from just having his well sculpted arms wrapped around her was intense then she was woefully unprepared for what was coming. The surge of intense heat from both of his palms that were pressed against her was intoxicating. Hermione had never felt anything like it before. It was like her best orgasm, from her vibrator that her mom got her for her fourteenth birthday, multiplied by about a factor of ten. She didn't get the same body reaction, well maybe the wetness in her knickers, but the mental reaction was almost identical in general feeling.

It held up for only a couple minutes at most, but to Hermione it felt like hours of constant stimulation. When he was done checking her core James showed a deep frown. It was far worse than he originally expected. Hermione's core was only at about a third of it's actual capacity and he could sense that there was about six blocks on it in total. James thanked his lucky stars that he was able to stop that greasy blonde brat before he could stab that athame into her again. If her magic was restricted down to one quarter, it would likely kill her long before she could make it to the full moon, though he would have caught it, it still pissed him off.

"Alright Hermione. It's much worse than I thought it was, but you should be able to make it to the full moon with little to no problem. The only thing is that I want you to use as little magic as you possibly can in the intervening weeks." James knew that she wouldn't like what he was telling her, but that was just the best solution. A witch's body needs magic to operate, if her core dropped too low from casting she would end up in the hospital wing at best, the morgue at worst. He went on to explain that and she accepted it reluctantly.

"That is very inconvenient. I wont be able to do any of the in class review properly. I even heard that Professor McGonagall is going to be coming back this year too. I really, really don't want to disappoint my favorite professor since she's coming back after three years." Hermione was upset that she was going to have to slack off, even if it might be to possible save her life.

"Don't worry about that. McGonagall is a Fire Elemental. She was the first person to find me when I disappeared after my first year at Hogwarts. I'll make sure she understands what is going on." James ignored the completely incredulous looks that all the girls directed towards him, for two different reasons. "Now I'm going to do a large infusion for the first time to try an break the most recent block. It might hurt a little, but it should be okay after a couple seconds."

With that warning not so firmly spoken James brought his magic to bear and pushed it directly into Hermione's core. He felt the resistance of the block immediately, but it had already started to break. James just pushed harder, totally ignoring the world outside of Hermione's core. He didn't even notice the look of complete rapture on Hermione's face.

Hermione could not believe that something would ever feel as good as the magic James had run through her core before, but it turns out that more of his magic with the intention of it staying in her core was so much better. She didn't think she would ever be able to replicate this feeling ever again, but damn was she enjoying the now. For possibly the first time ever she didn't have a single thought focused on the future.

When the block finally broke it was like a damn in her pleasure center broke with it. Her knees felt like they were made of jelly, her knickers were thoroughly soaked and her mind had almost shut down. Like eyes rolling into the back of your head, muscles going slack, shut down. When James let go of her Hermione slumped to the floor like her body was made of wet noodles, it was so slow and gentle, almost like a feather floating to the ground.

Of course James panicked, thinking he had hurt her. He started to stutter out an apology and pick her up, but every time he touched her, her body would shudder, like it was wracked with pain. Well to him it looked like pain, to the other ladies in the compartment it looked a lot like what happened to them after a ridiculously good session of alone time.

Eventually James got Hermione back into her seat. Turns out its hard to maneuver a woman that is almost entirely limp into a seat. James caught himself thinking that it would be much easier to handle her body if it was a little stiffer, which led him off on a tangent about stiff body parts and her body. _'God damnit! It is way fucking harder than I thought it would be to control my instincts around these witches.'_

After he moved back to his seat, still apologizing for what happened to Hermione, Tracey took pity on the poor guy and piped up in her musical elfin voice, "James. Stop beating yourself up. That's not pain, that's pleasure. You literally made her come with hurricane force when you pushed your magic into her. She's in an 'O' coma."

Everyone laughed uproariously at the look of sheepishness on James face as he ran a nervous hand through his hair and across his scalp. No one would believe it based on how he acted around women, but he hadn't even kissed a girl yet, let alone made one come. Daphne let everyone believe that he had seduced her, but really they just hung out a lot and had awkward almost kisses. Same thing with Susan last summer. There was lots of cuddling and hanging out, almost kissing, and light petting, but nothing more, no matter how much Susan hinted that she wanted to take things to the next level. James didn't want to make that step only for her to leave and never see her again, since he thought she was a muggle and he was moving back to England.

"Awh man! This sucks!" Hannah exclaimed suddenly.

Everyone, especially Susan, who was sitting closest to the unexpectedly loud Hannah, jumped at the exclamation.

"What the hell Hannah?" Susan grumbled, "Why did you have to yell in my ear like that?"

"Sorry Sue. It's just that if that's what the test makes you feel like it sucks that I'm not going to get to have the test done." Hannah responded shyly, not really wanting to admit that a possible orgasm from the man across from her was that appealing. She knew Susan would immediately be able to tell she was lying and would definitely call her out on it.

The looks the other girls adopted at Hannah's admission amused James to no end. It appeared that no one else had thought that way until Hannah had mentioned it. Now each girl, besides Hermione since she was still out of it, sported blushes of varying degrees and their mouths were all slightly open in surprise at the thoughts running through their heads.

James decided to cut those thoughts off before they got too out of control. "Don't worry about that Hannah. Hermione is the only person that will be experiencing a reaction like that because I had to break through one of the blocks to ensure she wasn't in a life threatening situation. None of you girls will have that many blocks on your magic."

"Awh man! That sucks." Tracey blurted out before turning cherry red. Frowning through the blush at how she blurted that private thought out, she must have been more distracted by the prospective bliss than she thought.

"Oh Tracey that is very scandalous of you." Daphne teased, her smirk dispersing her light pink blush.

"Shut up Daph. It is not." Tracey quickly shot back, hoping that she reacted before anyone thought too much about why that was scandalous.

Her hopes were about to be dashed though as Hermione had started to come around and just caught what Daphne said. "What is so scandalous about Tracey wanting to feel what I just did? It was amazing and I would think everyone would want to feel it. Repeatedly if possible." It was a testament to how out of it she was when she didn't even blush at that last admission.

Tracey looked at the dreamy, contented smile Hermione wore and let loose an impressive scowl. It didn't even phase Hermione. No matter how much Tracey tried to silently intimidate her into withdrawing her question and dropping the subject Hermione just wouldn't do it and stared at Daphne's still smirking face.

"I'm glad you asked Hermione." The Slytherin shot another smirk at her elfin best friend, "It's because Tracey has only been interested in female companionship and would never let a male touch her inappropriately, let alone want to let one give her bliss." Daphne couldn't hold her laughter in upon seeing the shock on three faces and the rage on her fellow Slytherin's.

"Well as flattering as that is, I would prefer that this didn't take the entire train ride." James injected into the discussion that he knew was about to explode. "Tracey come here and stand in front of me like Hermione did. I promise it won't take as long. I'll only have my hands on you for the shortest period of time I can manage." He figured Daphne was just picking on her friend with that last statement and wanted to put any misgivings Tracey had to rest.

Tracey was a little confused as to why James would want to take as little time possible with his hands on her body. Did he not find her body as enticing as he did Hermione's? She caught herself thinking _'I'm I not as attractive as she is to him? I mean I know my chest and arse are both smaller, but size isn't everything right?'_ Her thoughts continued in that vein until she came to stand in front of him.

Before he could move to put his arms around her she screwed up her courage and leaned down to whisper into his ear. "Do you not want to have your hands on me? Am I that repulsive to you?" She let far more venom leak into her voice than she wanted to and he wouldn't even know it was directed at herself for worrying about what this man thought of her.

At first James was startled by the venom in her voice, but he fought it down quickly. He took a second to think of his response, but didn't want to wait too long, lest she think that he was trying to come up with a decent lie to tell her.

"No, I would love to have my hands all over your body, but I assumed that you wouldn't like that based on Daphne's teasing. I don't want to make you uncomfortable or anything since I would really like to have you as a friend in the future." He paused for a second before continuing, "Actually I was hoping for more than friendship in the future now that you know about my instinct problem, especially since Daphne told me much about how close you two are to each other."

At this Tracey's head snapped back and her back became ramrod straight. "Daphne told you about us?!" She squealed, face cherry red once again with the color moving down her neck and into her chest.

"No. I told him about how close my _friendship_ with a girl from home was. He assumed, correctly mind you, that you were the friend I told him about. You, however, just announced to not only him but the other three in the compartment the exact nature of our relationship though. Everyone in the entire car probably would have heard it too, if James hadn't thought to erect a privacy ward the moment he closed the door anyways." Daphne deadpanned back at the still cherry red Tracey.

"That explains why whenever you two went to the bathroom in class Tracey would go from jumpy and easily agitated before to mellow and easy going when you got back." Susan smacked her fist into her other hand at her deduction.

Both the girls in question were now perfectly red. Cherries would be jealous of the color their faces were sporting. Daphne at least was able to hide some of her face by looking out the window, Tracey had no such luck since she was facing the rest of the compartment. Lucky for her she was totally distracted by James pulling her shirt up.

Tracey spluttered indignantly at the brief affront to her modesty, but she clammed up when she felt James' arms wrap around her. It was unlike anything she had felt before. Sure she had been involved with a couple different girls since she started at Hogwarts, but no one had ever made her feel safe like this man did. It was as if nothing could possibly harm her with his arms in the way. Had anyone asked if she would become addicted to the feeling of a man holding her she would have scoffed, then laughed in their face at their stupid question, but now she wasn't so sure.

"Alright. There's the hard part done. This part should be quick. I doubt the ponce hit you as many times as he hit the people outside of his house." James started to run his magic through Tracey's core with no more warning than that.

Tracey's knees held up just fine, no rubbery feeling at all. She would have been really proud after seeing how Hermione's knees wobbled. Would have been, but she couldn't be because she was too busy being embarrassed about the low throaty moan that escaped her mouth the moment she felt James' warm, earthy magic invade her body. She couldn't hide her obvious embarrassment from everyone else, again. She was lucky no one was paying any attention to her.

Hermione was wondering if her reaction looked as erotic as that. Probably not considering she was wearing a bra. Even if she wasn't wearing a bra Hermione didn't think she could match the eroticism of the way Tracey's chest strained the fabric of her shirt, buttons pulling far enough to show glimpses of wonderfully creamy skin. It also showed a perfect outline of her stiff nipples and the barbells pierced through them. Hermione was positive it was a side effect of what happened earlier, but the arched back, full chest, and throaty moan kind of turned her on.

Susan was also focused on Tracey's chest, wondering how she would look with nipple piercings. Her mind then moved to where else she could possibly get pierced that would be hidden from her Aunt. She had always wanted to get her ears done, but her Aunt never let her because it was unnecessary and 'only scarlet women got them', according to her Aunt. She resolved to talk to Tracey later on about it. With that out of her mind she was able to look ahead to exactly what Tracey seemed to be feeling and felt herself get a little excited. Man was she glad that she didn't let Hannah talk her into going commando today.

Daphne was directly focused on Tracey and how she had never, not in two years of learning her likes and dislikes, gotten her to react like that. Daphne found herself wondering if James could teach her to do that to Tracey. Then she had to fight down a blush at the thought of her and James doing that to Tracey together. ' _The effect of Ice and Earth mixing in your core would be intense. I wonder if I can convince Tracey to let me a James do that to her at the same time.'_ She was drawn out of her thoughts by Hannah sighing dejectedly, obviously still upset about her being unable to feel that.

It was Tracey that managed to ask the obvious question, through rapid heavy breaths though. "Why do you think he would hit us less? I mean he's got a lot more access to us than to any of the others." By the end she had went from heavying breaths to just light panting, it still outlined her stunning bust incredibly though.

That was something James noticed immediately when he backed away far enough to let Tracey turn and look at him while she was talking. He stopped and stared for a few seconds before snapping himself out of it and answering her question, "Well his father probably trained him from the moment he could walk to be a proper Lord and a Death Eater in training, or at least a pure blood elitist. One of the biggest things he was probably taught is that the illusion of strength is just as, if not more, important than actually having strength. Part of that would be being in the strongest, purest House at the premier European magical school. Hence he can't afford to make you two look weak in front of the rest of the school. He is all about what is associated with his image, it makes it hard to attack you two when you're associated directly with him."

Tracey sat back down beside Daphne, but much closer now that their secret was out and no one seemed to care. Actually now that she looked around she realized that nobody actually cared in the least about either of their sexualities. Everyone else was far too focused on what Susan appeared to be doing, which was less than appropriate for a public setting.

Susan was so caught up in her returned thoughts of piercings that she had pulled her shirt and bra out for her to look down at the tips of her large, milky breasts. She was mumbling to herself. Something about rings or bars. Nobody really heard her well enough to figure it out and Hannah elbowed her red haired best friend before she could go too far and start touching or talking louder, much to the disappointment of the bench across the compartment.

"I was right though. Your core is only slightly restricted. Like once or twice, tops. The ritual will help, but you won't really notice until you start casting the magic heavy spells that you will learn in six and seventh year."

"Oh good. What is this ritual all about now?" Tracey looked relieved to be told that she was pretty much fine. From the look on Susan and Hermione's faces she would either really love it or really hate it. She waited for almost a full minute for someone to answer before she decided to continue anyways. "Alright I guess I will just figure it out when it happens. First night of the full moon right?"

"Yea you can come that night, but I won't be able to do the ritual that night. I'll need you and Daph to come out on the second night to get yours done. I can only do three rituals in a night and you guys can wait longer than the rest." James smirked, "It's going to be in the Forbidden Forest, I hope that doesn't bother you."

Tracey and Daphne both gulped. They weren't especially scared of the Forbidden Forest, but they also didn't go anywhere near it, especially not at night. Daphne looked over at Tracey, their eyes met for a fraction of a second before they both looked at James. Tracey was leaning out to look around Daphne, but James kept the amused smile off of his face at the serious expressions on the girls faces.

Daphne ended up speaking for the both of them, "Fine. You have to meet us before we go into the forest though. We aren't going in there looking for you." Her tone would have made even Professor Snape sit up and take notice.

James waved his hands in front of himself, as if to ward off a physical blow from the tone and glare Daphne was sending his way, even with it watered down by the adorable attempted glare from Tracey, whose elfin features just couldn't pull off the glare without being totally enraged.

"Yes ma'am. We can all meet in front of the doors to the Great Hall. I will make sure that we don't get caught as long as you can make it out of your common rooms by yourself." He explained quickly, hoping to make the glare go away as fast as possible.

"What do you think we are? A bunch of clueless lions?" Tracey scoffed at his insinuation. It took a scowl from James for her to realize that there was in face a 'clueless lion' sitting a few feet away from her. "No offense Hermione, but you aren't really the rush right in type. I forgot you were a Gryffindor. Sorry." She concluded sheepishly, hoping she didn't offend the bushy haired bookworm.

"Don't worry about it Tracey. I don't feel like I really fit in well there either. It's too bad that I can't go back in time and try to convince the Sorting Hat to put me in a different house." She sighed half in longing and half in despair at her lot in life.

"You know that you can ask for a resorting, right?" James threw out, not really expecting an answer to his rhetoric question.

"What?! You can?" Why did no one tell Hermione this before? She had gone to her Head of House when the boys started to bully her, but he had said there was nothing that she could do for her. After Harry had disappeared, Ron had quickly gone back to being a demeaning arsehole.

"Yes. It's in the school charter. Everyone can request a second sorting with no reason and suffer no consequences. You can even be resorted after that, but you need to have approval from the Deputy Headmaster and your Head of House, which is very unlikely." James was a wealth of knowledge it seems. The only thing Hermione couldn't figure out was how he found all this information, well that wasn't even close to all she couldn't figure out about him, but that was at the forefront of her mind at this point.

"Good I think I will do that. Can I do it at the Welcoming Feast? I feel like it would be easiest then, that's when you and the first years will be getting sorted after all." She kept trying to weasel more information out of James, despite the fact that Susan was standing between his legs with her shirt up far higher than was entirely necessary.

Susan was hoping that she could entice James a little with her rather voluptuous curves. With that in mind she had hiked her shirt up high enough that the underside of her purple and black lace bra was showing. It was far more satisfying than she thought it would be when she saw him staring before shifting his hips back and gulping and looking up into her face.

James was praying to every god he could think of that Susan didn't just catch him staring at her milky skin and the underside of her bra. He couldn't imagine that she had done that on purpose, but he also couldn't help looking even if it would get him in trouble. The satisfied grin on her face when he looked up in fear let him know that he wasn't, in fact, in trouble and was meant to have a peak at her.

"Will you hurry up and do the test? We don't have all day you know." Susan poked fun at him.

"Of course Lady Bones." He laughed at her reaction to her political title. "Let's get this over with, I would like to move on to less _stimulating_ conversation."

Susan wasn't sure whether she should be upset about that or intensely happy with the reaction she got for too long. On the other hand, he didn't want his body and instincts to react too strongly for him to be able to hide. As it was she was struggling a little bit to hide the tenting in his pants, he was doing well though. Susan was only just able to see the rather large bulge and she didn't think she would be able to if she wasn't standing directly in front of his sitting form.

That was as far as that thought went though. As much as she wanted to keep thinking about all the reactions, or actions, she could pull out of the attractive man she was standing in front of she just couldn't do it with his arms around her. There is no way her imagination could keep going when all her focus was on his arms being around her again.

' _God, I missed this so much. I don't think I will be able to take another break up. Maybe I can convince Daphne to share?'_ She thought to herself.

Susan was expecting to feel the incredible warmth that always accompanied his hugs, what she didn't expect was the electric jolt that came from his magic being injected into her core and then drawn back out through the other side. She didn't feel her knees go weak, nor the need to moan, or anything else overtly erotic actually.

It did make her heart race a mile a minute, it made all her muscles tremble in anticipation and, most importantly, it made her remember all the times she almost threw him down, jumped on him, and rode him until she couldn't stand up. This felt like all those times, multiplied by a hundred. Her knickers were already soaked and they weren't going to be getting any drier. It was all she could do to restrain herself while James finished what he was doing.

He slowly unwrapped his arms from around the gorgeous, milky white goddess in front of him. If someone tried to force him to choose between Susan and Daphne, James didn't think he could he would actually be capable of doing it. The girls were almost complete opposites, but were damn near perfect in his eyes.

Susan was so fun and bright. Her entire outlook on life was positive and sunny pretty much all the time. She was just a good person. If there was a stray cat on the side of the road she would take it with her, feed it, water it, and make it happy before letting it go again. Whenever James had a bad day over the summer he would meet up with Susan and suddenly the day wasn't so bad anymore. Being around her just made him happy and that was what made her indescribably desirable.

Daphne was no less fun, but she wasn't bright and sunny like Susan, she had a dark sense of humor and could send sarcastic shots at you like it was her job. She wasn't cynical, but she acted like it, as part of her mask that she wore like armour. Daphne was the most protective person James knew, aside from himself, and it showed once she let you past her mask. Behind her mask was a woman that could make you do just about anything to see her perfect smile, just because you thought that after all the crap she went through, she deserved to be happy.

"Alright Susan, you've only been attacked once more than Tracey."

"Oh good. That means my core has only been limited a little bit, right?" Susan was excited that she didn't have any big blocks on her magic, but a little disappointed that she wouldn't get the magic boost like Hermione would.

"Actually no. You have a block on half of your magic. Looks like it was family member based on the kind of block it is. Did your Aunt work a lot when you were growing up?" James asked.

"Yes actually. She was gone most of the day for six days a week back then. Rounding up all the remaining Death Eaters, just for most of them to buy their way out of a life sentence in Azkaban." Susan frowned at the memory. It sucked that her Aunt wasn't always around to raise her.

"How about accidental magic? Do you remember doing any of that?"

Susan nodded, "I remember some accidental magic, but nothing major that would signify a strong magical core or anything."

"There probably was some early signs. Without her there to keep a close eye on you she likely decided to bind your magic to make life easier on the elves that raised you for the most part. Fast forward to when your thirteen and heading off for your first year at Hogwarts. Your Aunt probably left the platform thinking there was something she was forgetting, but passed it off as just something she forgot at work." Susan looked shocked, but obviously agreed with the conclusion.

"Yes I could see that happening. So do we floo my Aunt from the school and ask her to remove the block?"

"No, don't be silly. That wouldn't help at all. Whether the block is well meaning or not doesn't matter for the ritual, breaking any kind of block will make your core stronger. As long as it wasn't placed by anyone that knew about the ritual it will work just fine, intent is a big part of magic, after all." James was happy that someone seemed to be following along with his explanations, actually everyone except Hannah seemed to be understanding everything perfectly.

"So you said I've been hit on top of that block, right?" James nodded, "So does that mean there is anything special that needs to be done for me too?" Susan tried to hide her hope, she really did, but she failed miserably.

"I don't think you will need it as often, but you could probably do with a magic boost once a week. Same rules apply though. Very little magic if you can help it."

"Okay, but what about if we need to protect ourselves? There is no way I'm going to just take someone attacking me laying down." She stomped cutely with her proclamation. "Unless it's you attacking me, then I'll only lay down and take it one time." She whispered huskily to him with a wink.

James was just about back to normal, his pants were barely feeling tight before she whispered that to him. Now he wasn't sure that he would be able to get it down before they got too school. He wasn't going to let her get away with riling him up like that, not without getting payback anyways.

James leaned forward to whisper into Susan's ear, "What makes you think that I would let you just lay down and take it? I would drive you so wild that you wouldn't be able to even think about just laying there. There is no way I'm going to be with someone that isn't just as into me as I am them. And trust me, I'm about as into you as a person could possibly get." His voice was a low growl that rattled her mind and made her vibrate with need. If she could manage to get both their clothes off before someone stopped her, she would be having her way with him before someone could say Merlin.

James loved the shiver of desire that he saw go down her spine. The way she whimpered into his ear made his instincts go wild and he just barely held back from pushing her up against the window and forcing her to do everything they held back from doing for most of the summer they were together. He could see her nipples standing out against her shirt, which was impressive because of the bra she was wearing. At her size even the skimpy, lacy kind like hers had some pretty serious padding for support.

Before he could lose himself to his instincts he reached up a little higher licked her neck all the way up to her ear and nipped it lightly. Her gasp turned into a moan, between that and the more pronounced shudder there was enough going on to satisfy his instincts for now. He knew he would have to move further along with her sooner rather than later, but decided there was lots of time to worry about that later.

"Speaking of getting into trouble." He held out his hand and summoned five stones in through the cracked open window. "I'm going to enchant these as an emergency beeper of sorts. Outside of any anti-portkey wards it will act as a reverse port key as well."

James passed the first of the smooth river stones out to Susan, who was still standing in front of him with hazy eyes and a heaving chest. He picked stones that were similar in color to all the girls hair so that they wouldn't get them all mixed up. Susan's was a dark red that had white veins in it that reminded him of her beautiful, smooth, milky skin.

Daphne actually got one that was more indigo blue than black, but it reflected something that James remembered about Daphne from their summer together. When he handed it over he said, "I much rather prefer your natural color Daph. You should remove the glamour. Impossibly enough I think you look even more beautiful with it." He didn't mean to make her blush, but it made her look even more adorable than usual.

Hermione got one that was a random mixture of a yellowy color and brown so that it looked very similar to her brown hair with blonde highlights. He disapproved of her glamour as well, "You should drop the glamour Hermione. No one will bother you now. Or at least if they do, they'll only do it once." He displayed a textbook sinister smirk.

Tracey's stone was a brown so dark that it almost looked black if you looked at it in the right light. He didn't have anything profound to say about her looks though. He decided to wing it this time, "Tracey your gorgeous and I would love to see all your piercings in close up detail some day." He thought about trying to make it into a joke, but decided to leave it alone after he saw how shy and demure she looked when she heard him.

Tracey wasn't like the other three girls who were either too overwhelmed by arousal or feelings brought on by the sincere compliments that James paid them by saying he like the real them more than the glamoured versions. The biggest difference was she answered back after getting passed the stone.

"I would really like to show them to you, but only after we get to know each other." She breathed back so quietly that James wouldn't have heard it if he wasn't an Earth Elemental. He suspected that she didn't expect him to hear it either.

So while everyone else besides Hannah was too preoccupied to hear what he said, and Hannah was too far away to hear, James answered her. "I would love it even more to get to know the real you. Daphne said some amazing things about you and I'm really looking forward to seeing how much she understated it."

Tracey's only reaction to that was to nod shyly and look away, too self conscious to look him in the eye in the face of his genuine interest in her, not her body like all the other men she had met in her life so far.

James realized he was getting caught up in his interaction with Tracey and wrenched himself away from her eyes and adorable elfin face. His last stone to give was Hannah's. Hers was a strawberry red that was almost pink, to match up with her strawberry blonde hair. To her he only said, "If your ever in trouble I want you to use this as fast as you can. I know your combat magic is really weak. Everyone with an air element is like that, absolutely fantastic at healing though. You should look into that as a career." He smiled at her when she beamed back in response. She obviously wasn't expecting to get a stone since she wasn't a possible mate for him like the other girls were.

"Okay so for those to work all you have to do is hold them tightly in your hand and think about me coming to help you. I would prefer if you only used it for emergencies. I can set up something else for later on if you want a booty call." He tried to keep it professional, but that last part just somehow managed to slip out.

Surprisingly it was Hermione that was the first person to laugh. It set everyone else off after a couple of seconds of hysterical laughter. Susan was sitting on the floor against the windows, holding the stitch in her side. Daphne and Tracey each had an arm around the other trying, and failing, to hold each other up in their laughter. Hannah had managed to wedge herself into the corner opposite Hermione so she wouldn't roll off of the seat in her laughter.

Once again it was Hermione that came to first. James was starting to think that Hermione was going to be the first for everything in their group of friends.

"So can I put a request in for that booty call set up. Cause if it feels even one, one hundredth as good as what happened earlier then I'm going to want some of that as often as I can get it." Hermione wasn't the shy girl James remembered from first year.

"How about I just make us notebooks that will communicate between the six of us. I'll even make it so that you can pick who you're writing to at any time just by thinking of who you want it to go to. That way you can use it to communicate privately if you wish." James spit balled to the ladies, who all nodded excitedly at the prospect of being able to pass notes while appearing to take notes.

With that all settled Daphne stood up to take the place of a now sitting, quite primly, Susan Bones, in between James legs. She didn't want to be as blatant as Susan was, especially because she wasn't wearing a bra, but she did try to make it erotic. She moved her hips to an imaginary rhythm while tugging her shirt out of her skirts waistline and slowly inching it up high enough to show some of her lovely pale skin. James gulped again. Here he was thinking he had his instincts all locked up, then Daphne had to go and do that and suddenly they were chomping at the bit to get into action again.

James did his sterling best to ignore what his instincts were telling him to do, but he couldn't quite manage to completely ignore them. When he wrapped his arms around her he probably squeezed a little bit harder than he needed to, which elicited a large grin from the dark haired beauty. Instead of laying his hands gently on her stomach and back, he gripped her front and backside just barely above the waist of her Hogwarts skirt. It was so close that he was able to tuck three fingers down underneath the it in fact.

When he did so Daphne moaned long and deep before inhaling a shuddering breath and whispering, "God I needed that. Thanks James, but don't get too far ahead of yourself now. Leave some of it for when we're alone." She gripped James' wrists so he wouldn't get his hands any further down the front and back of her skirt.

James didn't even realize his hands were migrating lower, he was so caught up in her reactions and his instincts that he was barely in control of his mind, let alone his hands. When Daphne stopped him he managed to wrestle control back. He quickly ran his magic through Daphne, who didn't even react at all to his magic in her for such a short period of time. She had gotten used to it while they were together since he could actually push his magic into her to help her heal after the intense training she went through.

"Alright Daph. You're good to go. Same thing as Tracey, almost identical core size too, which is impressively large." James was starting to get short with his explanations.

His nerves were almost completely shot after his fight against his instincts to mate while touching the skin and cores of four absolutely gorgeous witches. Their power was just as sexy to him as their looks and that didn't help because they were all ridiculously powerful, or at least would be when the rituals were complete.

Daphne seemed to understand this, "Thanks James. Now we will let you just rest and meditate. Ladies I'm sure we can occupy ourselves while James focuses on himself for the rest of the train ride."

All the girls reluctantly nodded, obviously wanting to keep talking with James, but everyone could tell that he was starting to slip into his baser instincts. His expressions had slowly become more animalistic seeming as the ride and examinations wore on. James nodded his thanks to the lovely ladies of his compartment before lifting his legs onto the seat and assuming a lotus position. As he lost himself into his mind he caught Daphne talking about something with Susan, Tracey, and Hermione.

"So I guess we are going to have to work out a schedule. Or start sleeping with each other as well." Then he heard a few affirmatives. He tuned it out and forgot about it, assuming he didn't hear properly and that his instincts were changing the words around on him.

James' last thought was _'Man am I glad that I came back. Now that I know they will be with me all year I don't think I could go back to being by myself.'_ The grin that came over his face didn't seem to match the rest of the serene expression, but it made the girls all smile at each other. Happy that they seemed to make him happy some how.

 **A/N: Don't expect updates to be this often. With the holiday season I have had an abundance of spare time. Thanks. Please review if you have anything positive to say and/or constructive criticism. Have a Happy New Year everyone.**


	3. Chapter 3

**Disclaimer: I do not own any characters or anything else from the wonderful mind of JKR.**

 **This is my first story. I appreciate any constructive criticism or suggestions. Any purely negative and/or degrading comments/reviews will be ignored. Thanks.**

 **I would like to send a special thanks to** **desireejones99** **for her encouraging reviews.**

Daphne Greengrass had definitely not expected her school year to begin this way. First she had gotten a lot of strange looks from her parents for the last couple of days leading up to her departure for school. They looked almost guilty. For some reason they even gave her an early sixteenth birthday present, her Mother had taken her into muggle London for a shopping spree. She seemed to put extra emphasis on making sure Daphne got a lot of lingerie, sexy lingerie.

Daphne had always marveled at what Muggles accomplished, especially without any access to magic, unless you counted science as magic. Sometimes Daphne thought that science was a kind of magic. They could transplant organs from one person into another for Morgana's sake, no one could do that with magic, not even the great and mighty Dumbledore. He tried to do something new every summer for the past fifteen years, that one was two years ago.

Daphne had expected to get on the train, find a compartment to spend the train ride with Tracey in and hope to Merlin that Draco bloody Malfoy didn't find her to harass her and her best friend. There was no way that she would think for even a second that she would step onto the god awful scarlet train and hear a signal that she had drilled into her head two summers ago. Yet here she was, sitting next to the one and only man that had ever even come close to winning her heart.

James Clay was definitely not the kind of person that you got involved with lightly. He absolutely oozed danger from every pore. It's actually what she originally found attractive about him. She had been dating a boy that she had met in the first few minutes of setting foot in the Academy. Craig seemed like a charming boy from Texas that was thrilled to meet an English woman, he was a perfect southern gentleman. Until he showed up for a date drunk, tried to grope her before getting shot down harshly and sent packing. He didn't actually leave though. No, he tried to use his Earth elemental to over power her and take what he wanted from her. Craig would have succeeded too, if James wasn't such a powerful Elemental. He was in his dorm room on the third floor that was near the courtyard she was attacked in and he still felt Craig drawing enough power from the Earth to over power her.

James jumped through the solid, poured concrete wall that made up the dorms, which is pretty impressive considering he couldn't draw any strength from the Earth from that high up, well as far as Daphne knew anyways. When he landed it was only a few feet from where she and her attacker was, she tried to scream to lead him to her, but Craig had a vice-like grip on her throat, there was no way she would get anything out. Her luck held though and James found them easily enough. Daphne would never forget what happened to Craig when James found them, she didn't think it was possible from someone's head to touch their heels like that. As it turns out it isn't, unless you break the person's spine and paralyze them for life. Earth Elementals have fantastic healing abilities, but only the top five percent have enough power to reconnect broken nerve fibers like those in the spine. Craig was top fifty percent at his best day.

Daphne was starting to get depressed thinking about Craig, even if she was happy to see James again, he did tend to bring up some less than stellar memories. She was hoping to make a serious amount of happy memories with him this year now that he's here. She looked over at the meditating form beside her and let loose a grin that would make anyone wonder who she was and what she had done with the real Daphne.

Now that she knew she could be resorted she was looking forward to breaking out of the Ice Queen mask and being the real Daphne Greengrass. Not only would she be able to get away from the insane, Death Eater wanna-be's in Slytherin, but she would be able to be more open about her relationship with Tracey. Lesbian relationships weren't discouraged in the other houses, in fact if rumors could be believed they were somewhat encouraged by some, as long as they were allowed to join in every once in a while.

Even if her resorting ended up with her back in Slytherin, she knew she would have protection from all of the idiots in her house. No one would dare mess with someone involved with James Clay after they knew what he was capable of and she had no doubt that it wouldn't take long for him to make sure that everyone was well aware of his power. Daphne just hoped that she would be there for when he decided to show off a little.

While Daphne was off in her own little world, Tracey was sitting next to her staring off into space, thinking about the schedule they just worked out completely without the knowledge of the person they were scheduling around. She didn't even know the man, but she was sure it wasn't going to go over well for any of them when he found out they decided how things were going to work for him. He seemed to be a fairly independent person based on what she had seen so far and on what Daphne had told her about the mystery beau she had over the summer once upon a time.

Tracey actually had a hard time reconciling the powerful warrior that Daphne described with the man she met. Yea he seemed knowledgeable, and fairly powerful with the little bit of magic she had seen him perform, wandless and silent, of course. When Daphne talked about him though she half expected to see him walking around in plate mail with a giant sword strapped across his back. That thought wrestled an unlady-like snort out of her, who carried swords around these days? Right?

Tracey did find him ridiculously attractive though. James Clay was a well built man after all. All lithe powerful muscled that were built for speed more than strength, which made sense when you took into account that he could use the strength of the Earth to damn near lift whole houses. She hated to admit it since it sounded so superficial, but that was a rather attractive feature for her. She had always been attracted to strong people, mostly girls though because it was less likely for them to take advantage of her. She blamed her older brothers for that, bastards that they were to their own wives.

It was while she was thinking over how she could be so attracted to a man she barely knew that she noticed it. Before he had started his meditation he pushed the sleeves of his flannel shirt, not far, but far enough to show the lower part of his forearms. There were scars there, a lot of scars. All going across his wrists, like the ones she had heard about muggles doing when they were depressed. If it were anyone else that she knew, she would have freaked out. With James though, she didn't know what to do so she nudged Daphne out of her trace.

"Daphne. Please tell me your man hasn't been trying to kill himself." Tracey whispered to her, trying to keep her voice low enough that the others wouldn't hear. She wasn't quiet enough, luckily Hannah had fallen asleep so one of the biggest gossips in the Castle didn't hear it.

"He what?" Both Susan and Hermione whisper-shouted, instinctively knowing to keep quiet.

"He has those scars on his wrists like people that think about killing themselves." Tracey didn't like to be the bearer of bad news. From the expression on Susan's face she couldn't believe that James was cutting his wrists.

Hermione couldn't believe that the confident person she met today would do something like that to himself. James seemed to sure of himself and his place in the world, there was no way he was like her. Hell even her magic healed her when she did it, it wouldn't let her end it all. It was especially odd that his magic didn't heal them, he had told them that he heals extremely fast and some of those scars are years old.

Daphne couldn't hold it in anymore, she started giggling. That got her some incredulous looks from everyone, well except the sleeping Hannah and meditating James. Before anyone could get too upset she managed to force her case of the giggles down. She cleared her throat once to get everyone's attention.

"Those aren't from him trying to kill himself or gain attention or whatever it is that you think it's from. They call them tributes. The Academy trains warriors. Warriors have different views on how things go. When one of them dies on a mission or quest they don't stop and mourn them. They don't even stop to gather the body to bury it, they burn it and carry on to complete the objective." The other girls gasped and covered their mouths in shock. Daphne showed them a wan smile so they knew that she had the same reaction. "After the objective is completed they have a drink for their deceased comrade and carve a tribute into their body. Most people do it in places that are less likely to be seen, but James never really was one to follow the norms."

"That's _barbaric!_ " Hermione screeched. If anyone from Gryffindor was in the compartment they would have rolled their eyes, expecting a SPEW level rant going on.

"No. That isn't it at all." Daphne shook her head then she paused upon seeing everyone's skeptical looks, "Okay, maybe it's a little bit barbaric, but it's their way of remembering the lost. Please don't give him grief about it. It will likely end up with him never talking to you again and totally ignoring your entire existence." Daphne said seriously, serious even for the Ice Queen of Hogwarts.

With that everyone lapsed back into their own thoughts. Susan thought to ask about the rest of the scars. Tributes only accounted for the regularly spaced ones across the bottoms of his wrists, it didn't account for all the other ones on his hands and arms. Before she actually asked though, she thought for a few seconds. Daphne said he was a warrior. Obviously the rest of them came from battle or training.

The rest of the ride to Hogwarts was full of quiet conversation, silence, and snoring, from Hermione as well as Hannah after the scar revelation blew over. It wasn't until the bell went off that warned everyone that they were only fifteen minutes from Hogsmeade Station that anyone really thought about what would happen when they got there.

Daphne and Tracey both had the immediate thought to get the hell out of there. They didn't want to be caught in the same compartment as a Gryff. Their second thought was that they still needed to put on their outer robes. Finally, the third thought was if they should wake James from his meditation.

Hermione jolted up out of her nap at the bell. She was still kind of sleepy, but she was more than capable of getting her mind working well enough to get her outer robe out and throw it on. She silently thanked whatever deity that led James to her. She could feel her life getting better already with James' magic flowing out from her core, it was a heady feeling that made her feel warm all over, with a lot of it centering on the apex of her thighs. Luckily Hermione had gotten extremely good at ignoring feelings like that.

Susan stood up and grabbed her outer robe, threw it on, then woke up Hannah and threw her robe at her. Hannah grumbled, but she put it on and work herself up. Susan turned to look at James, wondering how she would be able to wake him up without getting tackled like the last time she interrupted his meditating. She could see both Daphne and Tracey staring at James with the same contemplating expression on their faces.

As they stood there looking at each other the girls had their dilemma taken off of their hands. James had opened his eyes wide. Everyone except Daphne jumped back from what they saw there.

James' eyes had changed from the brilliant, glowing emerald that made their knees weak before. Now the whole eye ball, whites included, were a deep forest green. The iris was still visible, despite the fact that it was the same color as the rest, but only because it was outlined in gold. The only thing the same was his pupil, it was still black, but it was square and outlined in gold like his iris.

James looked around at the occupants of his compartment. He saw awe, surprise, disgust, and most prominently, fear. Pure, unabashed fear. James frowned in response, then looked to Daphne, the only person who didn't seem to be freaked the hell out.

"Is it the eyes?" He asked tiredly.

"Yes indeed, they changed while you were meditating apparently." She answered, trying to hide her disappointment. She had thought that these few people would be able to look past his eyes.

"Alright. I've already got my robes on me. I'll be getting off here. I'll meet you at the school. I need to see to a few things before I get there." Without waiting for a response he turned to the window and opened it wide before jumping up to crouch on the sill.

No one reacted to it at all, well not to him crouching on the window sill. The moment he turned to talk to Daphne everyone else flinched back as far as they could get from him. After that they continued to watch him like he was going to turn on them and attach at any moment. James hoped that they would come around eventually, but he wasn't going to worry too much about it. He knew that he could still call Daphne a friend if the others didn't want anything to do with him.

Daphne watched with mixed feelings as James jumped out of the window. She really wanted to follow him out the window, she was sure she would survive. She had never wanted to do something so reckless so badly. She knew James the best between her and the other girls, she knew it hurt him when they recoiled in fear. Nobody wants to be feared by people they're attracted to.

Daphne looked at Tracey with disappointment and disdain written boldly across her face. When Tracey tried to speak Daphne just held up her hand to forestall her. When she was sure that Tracey wasn't going to interrupt Daphne spoke. "Tracey. I can't believe that you of all people would react like that to something as minor as different eyes. I thought that you were better than that. Turns out my estimation of your character was more than a little bit off."

"What? Your mad at me because I got scared of that freak?! What the fuck is wrong with you? You dated that thi-" Tracey didn't get the last word out. She suddenly had a wand pressed up against the side of her neck.

"The _freak_ , as you called him, taught me that little trick I used to save you from Theodore Nott last year. He was the one who taught me how to ward our doors so we didn't have to take shifts sleeping. He was the one who taught me occlumency so that I could hide your secrets from everyone. He taught me everything that I have used to protect you. You owe him far more than you realize Tracey. I would not be alive today if it weren't for the _freak._ " Daphne never yelled at Tracey, but the quiet fury in her voice was impossible to miss. The venom in her voice would make a basilisk green with envy.

Tracey was crying. Not just because of the dressing down she got from Daphne. The self loathing and disgust in herself was far worse than anything Daphne could throw at her. Tracey had been in quite a few tough spots in the last four years at Hogwarts. Daphne had bailed her out every single time she ran her mouth, every time she was cornered by the Death Eater children, every time she got in trouble Daphne was there to save her ass. Tracey knew that this might wreck her friendship Daphne.

Near the end of second year Tracey had come to terms with the fact that she was attracted to Daphne. She was ecstatic that there was finally some way she could repay Daphne for all of the crap that she had to deal with because of her. It took a month or so for Tracey to convince Daphne to let her try some of the stuff she read in those dirty muggle magazines. Once Daphne gave in it was fantastic. At first it was just a way to repay Daphne for all her sacrifices, but at some point Tracey realized she was in love with Daphne. She hadn't told her yet, she was afraid Daphne was just using her to get off, which was completely ridiculous, but whoever said love was rational?

Before Daphne could stomp off, through the recently returned to normal door, Tracey threw her arms around her and cried on her shoulder. "I'm sorry Daphne. I just can't lose you. I love you and I'm afraid I'm losing you to this boy. I don't know how I would survive without you."

Daphne didn't know what to say to that. On one hand Tracey had just admitted to her that she loved her, which she had been waiting for since the end of third year. She was scared Tracey saw it only as a way to pay for the protection that Daphne provided her for years. Then there was the other hand where Tracey had insulted the man the she had grown to care about on a far greater level than mere friendship. She hadn't known him long enough to love him like she did Tracey, but it could easily grow to that point in a short period of time, she was sure of that much.

In the end Daphne figured that Tracey had given her many chances over the years when she fucked up by getting too involved in the Ice Queen persona, she deserved at least another chance. Daphne wrapped Tracey in the tightest hug she could manage, an rubbed her back consolingly. There was no way she was going to just get over this, they would definitely be talking about this later, but for now her girlfriend needed a shoulder to cry on after a huge wake up call.

After that interesting, and informative, outburst by the legendary 'Ice Queen' Susan wasn't scared anymore. She was mentally berating herself for reacting the way she did. Her aunt had trained her better than that, she taught her to 'look underneath the underneath' and her reaction definitely didn't reflect that training. James was a good person, he had proved that by helping them without asking for anything in return, and he didn't deserve to be judged based on something he couldn't control. The first generation witches and wizards went through the same thing for decades, if not centuries, and it disgusted her that it happened to this day. Then she went and did something similar to James without even thinking about it.

Hannah got over her fear pretty quickly. She was surprised by his eyes and the power that he radiated when he uncoiled himself was frightening. The more she thought about his perfectly fluid movements she realized he was making a conscious effort to look like he was moving as a normal person would when they first met. Knowing someone like that excited her, but at the same time it worried her because powerful people attracted powerful enemies. She already had enough problems being the best friend of the niece of the head of the DMLE.

Hermione couldn't believe that she judged someone based on looks. She knew how much she hated it when people judged her based on her bushy hair and buck teeth. Both have since been fixed, even if she used a glamour to make it look like she still had the bushy hair and buck teeth, among other things. Hermione didn't even think twice before deciding that she was going to ignore everything special about him and just focus on him as a person, treat him like a totally normal guy, that she didn't hate like all the other guys at school.

It didn't take long to get to Hogsmeade Station. As the girls were about to leave the compartment to disembark from the train Hermione took one last look at where James was sitting. Her gasp surprised everyone, after James left what could really be exciting?

Ignoring everyone's questioning looks and in Hannah's case, actual questions, Hermione bustled over to the corner he was in. Turns out she wasn't seeing things like she worried, there really was a piece of paper on his seat. It was folded in a triangle like the notes she used to see other girls pass in elementary school, it made her smile to see a little bit of the muggle world here in the magical.

"What the hell is that?" Tracey asked.

"This is paper. Its what muggles came up with to replace parchment. They are so far ahead of us in terms of technology that it isn't even funny. They can do so much with technology that we can only dream of doing with magic. Magic can do a lot of things science can't right now, but I don't expect that to last too long. Muggle science will catch up with magic some day." Hermione lectured to the very interested girls, they always thought muggle studies was a joke and this just proved it. Paper never made it into the course materials, not even World War II.

"As fascinating as that is, I assume that something is written on it. Could you let us in on the secret?" Daphne asked, her tone was so dry that deserts would take notes.

Hermione laughed, it felt good to banter with someone. She had no friends at Hogwarts after the boy-who-lived disappeared from Kings Cross. "Alright the note says…Bloody hell. He has got to be kidding. He leaves it in a bloody note?"

She was pissed. How could he hide something like that from her? How could he be such a coward, he was so brave when she knew him before. He attacked a troll for her, he fought his way to the philosophers Stone just to prevent the Dark Lord from getting his hands on it for Christ's sake. Then he pulls this crap. Hermione was going to give him a piece of her mind when she found him at the castle.

Hermione threw done the note, slammed the door open and stomped her way out onto the platform. Daphne and Tracey both looked to Hannah and Susan to see if they knew what the hell just happened. Hannah just shrugged and looked at Susan, who had ignored the looks and picked up the note.

"Ha! I win. Hannah you owe me ten galleons." She grinned fiercely at Hannah and handed her the note.

"No! That is such bullshit. It's not fair, you must have known that before we made the bet. You dated him for two months." Hannah whined to her best friend, immediately affecting her best pout.

"Nope. He basically told us at the same time. You're the one that didn't want to believe it. You made a crappy bet, missy." Susan walked out of the compartment, intending to catch up to Hermione and sit in her carriage with her.

Tracey hurried to catch up with Susan, handing the note to Daphne on her way out. She called out a quick 'wait up' to Susan. Daphne looked down at the note. She read it a couple times before snorting in disbelief. She could not believe that she had dated the Gryffindor Golden Boy without even knowing it. After the disbelief passed and she really thought about it James did kind of embody the Gryffindor qualities.

"Well Trace, you ready for an eventful year? 'Cause I think this year is going to be exciting. Maybe we will actually have that tournament this year." Daphne was a little apprehensive about being involved with James now, but she wasn't willing to give up on him just because of the name he was given when he was born.

"Yeah! That would be awesome! I am totally going to enter in the dueling tourney they had planned. You should definitely enter the knowledge contest. You could kick some serious foreign ass there, without even lifting a finger and showing off your real skills." Tracey was so excited, just at the thought of the Tri-Wizard Tournament actually taking place.

Tracey and Daphne walked quietly out to the platform just in time to see that all but one of the carriages was gone. Tracey thought to ask, "So what was on that note? You just crumpled it up and burned it." She frowned at that. She really wanted to know what it said.

"Oh that old thing. It just said what James' name was when he went to Hogwarts when we were in first year." She muttered offhandedly, smirking at the suspicious look on Tracey's face.

Tracey knew Daphne was trying to rile her up and was trying her hardest not to give her the satisfaction. She failed miserably and ended up slapping Daphne on the shoulder to get her attention as they walked up to the carriage. "Stuff it Daph. Just tell me what it said." She was damn near pulling her hair out in anticipation.

"It said that his birth name was Harry Potter." Daphne tried to keep a straight face and say it nonchalantly. She thought she did a fairly good job, until she saw how Tracey's mouth was gaping open and her eyes were as wide as they would go. Daphne broke out in amused giggles that she tried to stifle with her hands, but failed miserably and broke out into gut wrenching laughter. She ended up having to sit down on the steps of the carriage and catch her breath.

Tracey's gobsmacked expression only got more pronounced when she saw Daphne damn near rolling around on the ground in laughter. Daphne would only do that at home before. Tracey was definitely starting to like James if he brought out this in Daphne.

Their mirth was interrupted by the door to the carriage opening. Tracey looked up and Daphne turned around to look at the new arrival. "Well, well, well, so Scarhead has come back to us, has he?" Draco Malfoy sneered, "Good, it's been boring without someone that will fight back a little. I think you two will have to be a little appetizer for the main event though." He let out a cackle.

With that Draco whipped his wand out and cast a petrification charm on both girls before they even thought to react. Draco levitated them into the recently expanded carriage, his accomplice had layered the whole thing with cushioning charms, to make it easier on their knees, of course. Wouldn't want to cause too much body damage. That would be evidence, after all.

Draco made sure that the girls couldn't move their own bodies, but that didn't mean that he couldn't move them. He carelessly stripped them of their clothes, leaving them in just their underwear.

Tracey was so out of it from shock that she found herself wondering about the glamour that Hermione was obviously using to make her curves much smaller, her hair bushy, and her maintain her buck teeth. Instead of thinking about what was about to happen she continued thinking about Hermione in ways that she never would have before. Like how she found comfortable bras in her size since she had never been able to find anything for her D cups and Hermione must be at least an E underneath that glamour.

Daphne was cursing herself heavily. She had learned how to transfigure and conjure her underwear wandlessly and silently, but she hadn't learned any defensive or offensive spells. The underwear transfiguration did come in a little bit handy, she had black and purple lace on before her unceremonious disrobing, now she was wearing plain beige, comfortable and definitely not attractive against her pale skin. She was hoping it would stall long enough for James, or was it Harry? Either way she was waiting for him to come save them, she was just hoping that he caught the flare she sent up with her ice when Draco looked away, unfortunately that's all she could do without moving her arms.

"My, my, my, Daphne, how boring. I expected you to be a sexy dresser underneath that icy cold exterior. This is just disappointing. Tracey was much less disappointing, her bra barely hides anything and her knickers aren't quite as sexy as I like, but lace is good enough for what I'm going to use you for." Draco let our another dark laugh.

"Draco. I thought we agreed. I get Tracey and you get the 'Ice Queen'." Daphne couldn't turn her head, but she recognized that voice immediately. Ronald Weasley. She heard it enough, calling her a dirty snake and a tease.

"Well, I've decided that we're going to switch girls." Malfoy looked over at the now identified Ron, "Are you really going to complain about that right now. Either way your getting to have your way with one of the hottest witches in the school."

"I guess, but this isn't what we agreed on." Ron sounded a little moody, but that's exactly what would you expect from an entitled pure blood like him.

Daphne wasn't too happy to have either one to force themselves on her, but if it was going to be anyone she would rather it be Draco. At least she knew that he wouldn't do too much damage with what he had between his legs, according to Pansy anyways.

It wasn't long until both boys moved around in front of the girls so they could see their assailants. They were leering down at Tracey and Daphne, taking off their robes slowly. It was probably meant to scare the two fifth year girls, but Tracey was so far gone that she wouldn't have even notice what was going on. Daphne couldn't care less for their intimidation tactics, she just wanted to get this over with, there was nothing she could do and she just wanted to get back to James.

Draco and Ron were working on their belts when something happened, something very bad for Daphne and Tracey's attackers. James was standing at the rear of the carriage, which normally wouldn't have meant anything, but this time it definitely. James was standing there, soaked from the torrential downpour, making him quite the sight for the two girls.

James had changed into his Hogwarts uniform at some point between jumping out of the train and interrupting Draco and Ronald. ' _Merlin, I know I like girls, but the abs on that man could turn any girl on.'_ showing every groove and swell of his chest and stomach. He had hair on his chest and a trail of it disappearing down into his black slacks. He wasn't wearing an over cloak or a tie, but he did have a leather biker jacket on to keep him warm.

James moved closer to the carriage, his eyes were that same green and gold from the train, and man were they damn sexy when he was saving them. It was only when she realized that she was sitting up that Tracey saw the huge tear in the back of the carriage. It was the first real look at James' power for Tracey, it was awe inspiring. There wasn't even a sliver of wood visible on him, but she distinctly remembered seeing four fingers rending the wood.

"Well, if it isn't Heir Malfoy. How are you doing?" James said, as if he was commenting on the weather.

"Who, the fuck, are you? You are interrupting something here. Why don't you sod off?" Malfoy sneered at the newcomer.

"You are really going to dislike my answer, but since you asked, my name is James Clay." He answered Malfoy from right behind him.

' _I recognize that name from somewhere. I wonder if father told me about it?'_ Malfoy thought to himself before it clicked that the answer came from behind him. He turned as fast as he could to come face to face with those creepy eyes. It was then that it clicked. His father had warned him about this before.

 _-Flashback-_

" _Draco, come in here at once, I have important information for you to have this year at school." Lucius Malfoy called to his son._

 _Draco walked in to his father's study, with it's books that are full of nothing but empty pages, glass cut to look like crystal, and pine stained to look like oak, it was just like Lucius, it looked full of substance, but was really as empty as a used can. And you know what they say 'The empty can rattles the most.'_

" _Yes Father? What would you like to tell me?" Draco said after bowing to his father, trying to appear like he was still under his father's thumb._

" _There is a new child that will be attending Hogwarts this year. I need you to avoid him at all costs." Lucius answered his son._

" _Why? Why would I want to avoid a new kid? Shouldn't I try to recruit him to our Lord's side or if that fails, make sure he won't get in our way?" Draco tried to make his question sound respectful, but mostly failed._

 _Lucius stared down his rather long, beak-like nose at his son, trying to see if he was being sassed, eventually he decided that Draco wouldn't do that._

" _He comes from Canada. He will have diplomatic immunity as per the Ministry's treaty with the Canadian Magical Government. That isn't why I want you to steer clear of him though. He is immensely powerful and has done quite a few very noteworthy things in the last three years." Lucius explained._

 _Draco scoffed, obviously not taking this seriously, "Alright. Just tell me who he is so I can avoid him."_

 _Lucius quickly decided that getting angry with Draco would only make him want to take out the boy more, so he made up his mind to let Draco make his own mistakes on this one, especially because there wasn't enough gold in his vault to buy the Canadian's off. They have far too much honour and morals._

" _His name is James Clay. He is a lord of a couple different British Most Ancient and Most Noble Houses even though he was raised for the last three years in Canada. However, in the international circles he goes by another name. They call him 'Earthen Hunter'. Although I'm sure he goes by more than one alias in the seedier circles. The most important thing I can tell you is that he is, supposedly, the most powerful Earth Elemental in recorded history."_

" _I'll keep that in mind Father. May I be excused? I still need to pack for the return to school." Malfoy paid lip service to his father._

" _Yes, of course Draco. We leave at the usual time tomorrow." Lucius watched Draco leave, thinking '_ That stupid child will attack him and I won't be able to pull him from the fire this time. He must learn to think about his actions before he commits them. It won't be long before he is an adult and could possibly be held accountable for his actions in an honour duel.'

 _-End Flashback-_

James noticed the way Draco's already pale face became even more so. Apparently he had heard of him. "Ah, I see you've recognized my name. I hope that your useless father has warned you not to mess with me, if he didn't let me. My name is James Clay. I have diplomatic immunity because I am considered a Lord in Canada. These two are under my protection, as are Hermione Granger, Susan Bones, and Hannah Abbott. If you touch any of them again, I will declare blood feud and kill you. Don't test me on this Draco."

Having said his piece James grabbed Draco by the back of his pants with one hand and his greasy hair with the other. Draco gasped in pain when his hair was used to hold up some of his weight when James hefted him, then he threw him to the ground outside the carriage. He threw the rest of his clothes at him before turning to the other male in the carriage.

"Ronald Weasley. How did you go so wrong? All your older brothers turned out so well in this life and then there's you, the family disgrace. It seems despite your father's teachings and effort your mother has managed to convince you that you are entitled to anything you want because you're a pureblood." James shook his head in disappointment, wishing that he could have changed Ronald before he left.

"Don't try to lecture me you freak. I'm a pureblood of Britain, you're less than the dirt beneath my feet." Ron sneered at James.

Ron waited for a response, but he just felt a rising foreboding pressure. It took his lacking mind a full minute to figure out that it was coming from the 'freak' in front of him. Just as he was about to start back on his holier than thou tirade the pressure disappeared, which confused him. If this guy was trying to intimidate him, why would he suddenly stop trying.

Before Ron could figure it out James spoke up, "Sorry about that Ronald. I really don't like that word. I suggest you don't use it again because next time I'm not going to hold back from seriously hurting you."

"What word? Did you mean fre-" Ron started to ask in a haughty tone before cutting off with an 'Ack!'

James lifted Ron up by his grip on his throat, "I told you not to say in Ronald. Luckily I managed to stop you from saying it, but you got through about half of it so I'm still going to have to hurt half of you."

With that said James raised an open hand, focused for a second, and abruptly closed his fist. His magic flared enough that even Tracey, still out of it, felt it and reacted a little. Not many people knew, but if an Earth Elemental was powerful enough they could control any natural material, even if it was no longer alive and attached to the life giving force the Earth. The wood of the carriage walls suddenly exploded inwards, crushing Ron's lower half in a barrage. The sounds of the wood warping and breaking completely masked the sounds of Ron's bones being shattered, Daphne was extremely grateful for that.

James looked away from Ron after he had passed out from the pain inflicted on him. He hated doing that to someone he had once called friend, but there was no other option, Ron needed to learn that there were consequences to certain actions. His eyes fell on the pile of ripped clothing of Daphne and Tracey. Seeing that reminded him that Daphne and Tracey were laying on the ground, mostly petrified, and almost entirely naked.

"Good to know that you are still capable of that rather impressive wandless conjuration," James looked down at the bra conjured for Tracey then over to the ugly beige set that Daphne was, "Transfiguration too, apparently." He let out a laugh at her attempt to cover her ugly undies at the same time she flushed prettily.

"Shut up." Daphne whispered, failing to make it sound menacing like she wanted it to.

"As you wish my lady." James dipped himself in a bow fit for royalty, with a sexy grin on his face.

Daphne found herself forcing down thoughts of lewd acts with James. It took some serious effort, but she did manage to do it. She knew that those thoughts would come back with a vengeance when she lay down to sleep tonight, as they did every time she forced them down. When she opened her eyes Daphne was greeted with James holding out a full uniform for her.

"As far as I can tell these should fit you. I made some for Tracey too, but she seems really out of it. I think I'll just carry her up. Think you could get this on her and button it up?" He held out his own outer robe.

Daphne fought with a totally unresponsive Tracey, but in the end she got the robe on her. "So what are we going to do about Ronald and Malfoy?" She asked.

"Well Malfoy bolted for the castle before Ronald and I had our conversation. As for Ronald, I will send someone down for him when we get to the castle. After I deal with your Head of House." James said over his shoulder, having turned around to give her some privacy to change and re-transfigure her underwear into what it was before.

Daphne got dressed in the clothing James made for her. As she slid her arms through the sleeves Daphne found herself marveling at the feeling of it against her skin. She thought she was an accomplished conjurer for her age and she could barely do basic cotton clothing properly. This was so far ahead that she wondered just how good James was.

Acromantula silk clothing was a luxury for a reason, it felt like her upper body was being gently caressed by angel's wings. The best part about it all was how well it fight her, the chest was tight enough to show off her modest bust, but not tight enough for the buttons to pull. It tapered perfectly to still be form fitting as in flowed down her waist and into her new pencil skirt. The skirt fit perfectly too, it wasn't silk though, it was finely woven wool.

As impressive as that was when you just took into account the types of cloth James conjured, when you took into account the perfect fit he provided, and the colours it was impressive enough to make anyone sit up and take notice. The shirt was a lovely dark silver color, not the bright silver most people associated with Slytherin, it seemed to change from almost black when it rippled in the right light. The skirt was a deep forest green that almost perfectly matched James' eyes when he let his power flow through him, or when he finished meditating, apparently.

Daphne was speechless. She couldn't think of any words that would properly describe her joy and thankfulness for the clothing James made her. It made a girl feel amazing to be dressed in such beautiful clothing, especially when the guy they liked was there to see them looking so gorgeous. Daphne opened her mouth to at least attempt to express her thanks, but was put on hold by James' upheld hand.

"Don't even think about thanking me. Just seeing you wear that is thanks enough, besides if I hadn't have left you early like that then it wouldn't have been a problem right?" James smiled down at her sadly.

"If I can't think about thanking you then you can't even think of blaming yourself for what happened to us. All the blame can be laid at the feet of Malfoy and Weasley, only those two are responsible for this."

Daphne would hear nothing of his protestation after her assertion that neither of them were to blame and James had to admit defeat on that front. Instead of continuing to argue like he wanted to James bent down and gently lifted Tracey into his arms. Daphne picked up on his silent que that they were leaving now and quickly vacated the remains of the carriage, which had some ho w retained its expansion charm despite how damaged it was.

It was a fairly long walk up to Castle Hogwarts and Daphne was belly aching about how tired she was and how sore her feet were before they had even passed the halfway mark. James was still caring Tracey in a bridal carry and didn't appear to be even remotely bothered by the extra weight or the distance walked.

' _Hell, he isn't even breathing hard. It is so unfair that he gets all those physical benefits with his element while I only get an immunity to the cold.'_ Daphne thought with a pout.

As if James could read her thoughts he stopped dead in his tracks. Daphne kept walking, caught up in her internal pouting. It only took her ten or so steps to realize that James wasn't walking beside her anymore. She whirled around, scared that something had happened.

She let out a huge sigh of relief when she saw that James was just looking down at his shoes, one of which had become untied. She could see the look of consternation on his face as he glanced between the softly snoring Tracey and his untied shoe, obviously unsure of how he should go about retying his pointy old man dress shoes. Daphne found herself tittering at his indecision and decided to help him out.

After she has stood up from tying James' shoe she stood up almost directly in front of him, she was actually brushing against Tracey's side. When she looked into James' eyes she immediately got lost in the emerald depths. As she was staring into his eyes she heard him mumble something under his breath, but before she could ask what he said she was surprised.

James leaned down in the blink of an eye and gently pressed his lips to Daphne's suddenly hair free forehead. Daphne was caught completely off guard and she stuttered in response, but even though she was off balance she still had the presence of mind to not flinch back from this expression of intimacy, which was extremely rare for James. The kiss only lasted for ten seconds, but it felt like a lifetime to Daphne, a wonderful lifetime that filled her with warmth.

When James pulled away he smiled at her and it sent a new thrill of warmth through her. It wasn't the kind of warmth that caused arousal and desire, it was the kind of warmth that would bring a small smile to your face in the darkest hours of the night. It wasn't love, but it definitely had some of the markers of it.

It wasn't until they were walking again that she felt an entirely new thrill. It was caused by the rush of energy that ran through her from the soles of her feet to the top of her head and everything in between. At first she felt like she could run all the way to the castle and back without even using half of her new found energy, but it soon mellowed out. She was still filled to bursting with energy, but it was a slow and steady energy like what she imagined the strength of the Earth was like.

Daphne looked suspiciously at James, "You untied your shoe to get me close like that, didn't you?" She narrowed her eyes in suspicion at him.

"Well you never would have let me give you Terra's Blessing if I had asked you to take it. You're far too proud and stubborn to accept help like that." James grinned in the face of her suspicion, it made it very hard to stay mad at him.

"Well you're not wrong and I'm not entirely thrilled with you taking the decision out of my hands." Daphne was trying to sound stern, James heard the smile in her voice though.

"You're really going to be upset when I tell you that it will last for around six months. Every time you step foot on natural ground, or are below the surface of it, in the dungeons for example." James smirked at her.

"You did all of that just to protect me in the off chance that I must remain in the dungeons?" Daphne asked timidly.

"Of course. I would do almost anything to keep the people I care about safe and I most definitely consider you within that very small group." James said as seriously as he could when all he wanted to do was throw his arms around Daphne and show her exactly how much she meant to him.

"Thank you." Daphne told him sincerely.

James nodded, reluctant to say anything else and possibly embarrass himself. He looked up at the distant castle, only to see that he was only about forty feet away now. His first impression was one of awe and happiness, but he shook it off. It was a very clever spell that probably saved a lot of trouble with homesickness, just like that old goat to mess with student's minds to make them docile.

He was brought up short when he saw two figures standing between him and the doors to the entrance hall, the closed doors to the entrance hall. One was smaller than the other with a helmet of blonde hair and the other looked like nothing more than a giant bat with black hair and a pale face. Draco Malfoy and Severus Snape, the two worst examples of human beings that Slytherin House had to offer.

"You there, step away from my student and surrender yourself for arrest. You have attacked the Heir of a Noble House of Britain and you will be tried and sent to Azkaban." Snape sneered, and Draco smirked.

"Severus Snape I presume. Ah yes, I've heard quite a bit about your favoritism, especially towards your Godson, Draco. The only problem is that I caught him attacking these two young ladies, along with an accomplice. Now I suggest that you open those doors and get out of my way." James' pleasant mood from talking so candidly with Daphne burned away in an instant, it was displaced by the need for a serious demeanor.

"I'm afraid I can't do that, criminal." Snape shot back, incensed by him not complying.

"You should be afraid Severus. I will have to move you then." James said.

James turned to Daphne, "Could you hold onto Tracey for me? Terra's Blessing should easily allow you to hold onto her for the duration of what is going to happen here." Daphne nodded to him and accepted Tracey from him. She was surprised by how easy it was to hold onto her, _'I could get used to this.'_ She decided.

Snape watched as this unknown boy stepped away from the two whores from his House. What did this boy think he could do against him? A full grown and powerful wizard of Britain. He was just standing there with a wide stance, knees bent and his arms hanging limply between his legs, almost like an ape. He hadn't even pulled a wand. Did he expect to defeat him by only using wandless magic?

"Even if you manage to beat me, without a wand it's unlikely, but if you somehow pull off the impossible that door will not open." Snape appeared to be really good at sneering, must be all the practice.

"It's funny how you wizards always think that the only way to fight is with little spindles of wood. For the other part, if those doors won't open then I will force them open." James let loose a feral grin at the confusion written all over Snape's face.

Snape was thoroughly confused. What did the boy mean by 'you wizards'? It almost sounded like he was saying that he wasn't a wizard. How could that be? He was enrolled at Hogwarts, or else he wouldn't have been able to get on the train. So how could he not be a wizard. Snape shook that thought off quickly and decided to get this farce over with.

"Stupefy!" Snape whipped his wand out at James, intending to end this as fast as possible.

James' grin only grew when Snape cast that spell, it was considered an attack outside of an agreed upon duel. As soon as the red streak left Snape's wand, James charged arms held behind him as he ran with his body parallel to the ground. The spell flew over his head only a few feet from Snape. James was filled with a fierce happiness at the shock on Snape's face, he could understand it though. It wasn't every day that you saw a person cross twenty feet of open ground in a fraction of a second.

James very much wanted to knock Snape down a peg by punching him in his greasy beak, but he didn't really want to kill him and he didn't think he would be able to hold back enough not to. Instead he launched a punishing uppercut into Snape's unprotected stomach. He heard the sounds of breaking bones and let out a bark of laughter at the weakness of a regular wizard's body, any Elemental would barely be marked by that punch.

Snape felt his ribs break under this freak's assault, then he felt his breath being forced out of his chest in a huff. He wasn't even able to vocalize the initial pain he felt when he folded over the boy's fist.

James didn't follow through fully on his punch, he didn't want Severus to be launched away before he could speak to him.

"My name is James Clay. You have just assaulted an ambassador from Canada. I will let it go this time because I have just broken most of your ribs and likely cracked your sternum. This is the only warning I'm going to give you. I am a Lord of both Canada and Britain, twice over. Both houses in Britain are Most Ancient and Most Noble. I rank so far above the Malfoys that I can't even see them below me. Don't get in my way again." James' eyes were hard, like crystal and his voice was sharp.

Snape tried to say something back, but all the came out was a burst of blood and spittle. His vision was fading to black. The last thing he saw was the disappointed expression on the boy's face, for some reason it made him feel like he was disappointing the only person he ever loved.

James watched the light leave Snape's eyes as he blacked out, disappointed that Snape was so twisted. As soon as he was sure that Snape was totally out James hefted him up onto his shoulder and walked up to the door.

"Draco if you use that wand, I will break it off inside your eye socket." He glanced over at Draco out of the corner of his eye.

Draco's wand was shakily pointed at Daphne and Tracey, but he was afraid to use it after James broke through Professor Snape's defense so easily. After hearing that threat spoken so dispassionately, like he was commenting on the weather, Draco decided not to test James' resolve to follow through and put down his wand.

James called out to Daphne, "I'm going to kick this door in, then we're going to get privately resorted and go directly to our new common room. I'll have some food brought up for us from the kitchens."

Daphne was completely aware of his strength, but it was another thing entirely to see him actually fight someone rather than sparring. She shook her head to snap herself out of her awe in time to grunt an affirmative in response. Then she took the time to berate herself for allowing such an unlady-like response to escape her mouth.

James pretended that he didn't hear the grunt to spare Daphne the embarrassment. He walked up to the great towering doors. They were very impressive, he had to admit that much at least. Giant towering constructs of black steel that looked to be at least a hundred feet tall and were likely at least ten feet thick. James planted one wooden soled shoe firmly on the flagstones in front the door, it wasn't as good as being directly on the surface but James was strong enough to draw power through up to twenty feet of stone if there was no air separating it from the ground.

With his foot planted as it was James reared back with his other foot and thrust it forward with the power of Terra behind it. The doors didn't stand a chance. The bars across the inside broke with a great screeching report and the doors hit the wall on either side with gong like clangs, if the gongs were the size of small house anyways.

James stood beside Daphne with the ominous background of the torrential downpour. Together they cut quite the impressive silhouette. McGonagall and Flitwick stood on the top steps looking down at the new arrivals. McGonagall had a look of barely contained amusement and glee, Flitwick one of shock and horror at the strength this student could bring to bear.

James looked up at the diminutive half goblin and the statuesque Scotswoman, "I assume they gave you back your Deputy position Minerva." He smiled at the stern older woman.

"Mister Clay. In this institution we refer to our professor's by their title, or Sir or Ma'am." Flitwick scorned James.

"Well, Headmaster Flitwick, I have not been sorted yet so by your own school rules I'm technically not a student yet and therefore allowed to call you whatever I please. On that note you might want to get him to Poppy, most of his ribs are broken and his sternum is probably cracked." He tossed Snape at their feet with that feral grin firmly plastered on his face. Why not teach the half goblin exactly what kind of person he was dealing with?

 **A/N: Thanks for reading everyone. Please review and follow/favourite. I would appreciate constructive criticism and suggestions.**


	4. Chapter 4

**Disclaimer: I do not own any characters or anything else from the wonderful mind of JKR.**

 **Warning: The end has some citrus flavouring. I'll put a break right before it starts for anyone that wants to skip it. I don't think it's too vulgar or nasty or anything, but I know some people don't like it.**

 **I appreciate any constructive criticism or suggestions. Any purely negative and/or degrading comments/reviews will be ignored. Thanks.**

 **01/20/2016 - It's been brought to my attention that, well, I fucked up. So I'm quickly going to edit that mistake now, so if you haven't read it yet ignore this, if you have just know that I fixed part of the ending.**

 **Review Answers:**

 **Daithi4377: Everyone is the same age, they all started at 13. Minerva returned at the end of the third chapter. He did tell them. In the note he left behind. That was all in the story. Luna will be friends with James, not involved though. Draco mostly blocked fellow Slytherins and only some others that he hated. Dumbledore was far too worried about bringing Draco to the light to pay attention to what he was doing. Draco doesn't know who Harry is yet and might not find out for sometime. Minerva has interacted with James since he left and Filius is a good guy, he was just too shocked to react as he should.**

 **Thanks.**

 **If anyone is willing to draw a portrait of James Clay, it would be appreciated.**

Inside the great hall the sorting of the first years had been rather quick without any kind of delay this year. Hermione found herself sitting alone at the end of the Gryffindor table, near where all the newly sorted first years sat. It made her look so lonely sitting among those almost four years younger, even they had already started to make friends with each other.

Hermione looked up from the wood grain that she was tracing with her finger nail. She shot a quick look to Susan and Hannah at the Hufflepuff table. Both of them met her eyes briefly and shook their heads. They hadn't seen James or Daphne and Tracey either. They didn't show up before they closed the doors to the Entrance Hall. She couldn't help but notice that neither Ron Weasley, nor Draco Malfoy were present either. She knew that Draco was back at school for sure, but she found herself hoping that her primary tormentor wasn't back at school.

Susan and Hannah were completely ignoring the start of year announcements in favour of talking to each other about their new, currently missing, friend. Susan had impressed on Hannah that James was more than capable of taking care of himself. In fact, Susan was very sure that there was no one that could even come close to being a threat to him on their own, unless they somehow caught him completely by surprise with a seriously damaging spell. Susan wasn't even taking into account his magical strength that was recently revealed to her. Hannah had expressed her doubts, quite emphatically, well as emphatically as one could be in a whispered conversation.

"Alright Hannah, alright. I get that you won't believe me. One day you'll see his workout and you will understand. Actually if you just see him with his shirt off you'll understand. You know, after you pick your jaw off the ground and stop drooling." Susan laughed quietly at the look of contemplation on Hannah's face.

Susan looked around at the rest of the students in the Great Hall, noticing the many students that didn't return this year after the supposed return of Voldemort at the end of last year. There had been people going missing since June of last year, but they only had the word of 'reformed' Death Eaters that the Dark Lord was back. Some people speculated that when Roger Davies went missing last year, he was used in a ritual to bring You-Know-Who back from the wraith-like thing he was in first year. When they found Roger's body it was almost completely drained of blood.

Fudge had in fact run a huge campaign through every source of media that he could to discredit these 'reformed' DE's. He had the Prophet running constant smear campaigns against anyone that spoke out in opposition to Fudge's official stance that there was no possible way for He-Who-Must-Not-Be-Named to be back. It was this smear campaign that got Dumbledore ousted from the Headmastership of Hogwarts.

It turns out that Filius Flitwick was a far better Headmaster anyways. Listening to his staff about their questions and concerns had already shown everyone involved that Filius was making an effort to make the school a democratic institution rather than a dictatorship, like Dumbledore operated it as. Obviously Flitwick still had final say in anything, but the opinions of the masses actually factored into his decision making.

Already there were some serious changes in how things worked at Hogwarts. Susan wasn't sure about how long they were going to last before everything returned to the status quo, but she was hopeful that some of the changes would stick around. She scanned through the pamphlet she was given at the doors to the Great Hall. All point deductions or awards over ten points must be reviewed by either the Deputy or Headmaster, that would be nice as it would cut down on Snape being a colossal asshole and deducting huge amounts of points from everyone and giving equal amounts to his Slytherin babies.

Susan was broken out of her musing by Professor McGonagall entering from the side chamber off the Great Hall. She was happy to see that the Professor was back, but suspicious of what she was doing walking down the aisle between her table and the Gryffindor one. It didn't take her long to find out what the Professor was looking for. McGonagall had reached the end of the long table and had a quick whispered conversation with Hermione, whose face lit up shortly after it started and was grinning from ear to ear by the end. Hermione gathered herself up and quickly made to exit through the same door the Professor entered through.

Susan elbowed Hannah to get her attention then, ignoring the glare that was thrown her way she directed Hannah to the now leaving Hermione. Hannah looked like she was going to ask Susan what the hell was going on, but she had to bite her tongue when she noticed Professor McGonagall coming towards them.

"Miss Bones, Miss Abbott." McGonagall spoke quietly so she didn't draw too much attention to the pair of girls. "I have been informed by a mutual friend that you wish to be resorted before the year begins. If you two still wish for that to happen then please follow me into the antechamber at the end of the hall."

McGonagall didn't wait for them to answer, she just turned and walked briskly back to the antechamber. If James told her that the girls wanted to be resorted then she knew that they wanted to be resorted, James wouldn't lie to her and she would do almost anything he asked of her. It was just how life debts worked, even if James refused to acknowledge the debt she would still honour it.

Susan and Hannah were still worried about the girls that were missing, but now they knew that James was here and alright neither girl was worried about Daphne and Tracey. Hannah had only known James for a few hours, but she already knew enough about him to know, with absolute certainty, that he would not have come here unless the other two were safe. Susan didn't have a second thought about Daphne and Tracey after she had heard James was here.

Upon entering the antechamber, the two were completely shocked into stillness. Off to the side Professor McGonagall was in the same situation. Nobody knew how to react to the sight in front of them.

Standing out of the line of sight of the doorway was James. He was holding Tracey in his arms, which wasn't that shocking, although it appeared that she was wearing pretty much nothing besides an over robe, which was a little worrying, but it wasn't the shocking bit. No, the shocking bit was that Daphne was leaning over Tracey's head. Normally it wouldn't be that surprising since Tracey seemed to be unconscious and to check if someone is still breathing properly you had to get close to their face.

What wasn't normal was how Daphne was in a full on lip lock with Tracey. Hannah looked over at Susan to see if she was seeing the same thing that she was. Susan had the same idea. When they made eye contact you could almost see the image of them doing the same thing running through both of their minds. They both snapped their heads back to look anywhere except each other, trying to hide the matching scarlet blushes on full display.

"James!" Came the startled voice of Professor McGonagall, "What the hell is going on here?"

James looked up from the faces of Daphne and Tracey, "Ah Minerva, you're back, and you brought the girls with you I see. Thanks for that."

It was then that Susan and Hannah noticed Hermione standing on the other side of McGonagall. She didn't seem to be at all surprised or embarrassed by seeing the two girls being together like they were. Susan thought, _'I wonder why this doesn't seem to bother her? She always seemed very conservative to me in classes.'_

She didn't have long to think on that though because James realized he didn't actually answer the question he asked.

"Tracey and Daphne had run into some issues. Tracey seems to have entered some sort of trance to escape what was happening. Daphne and I figured a good way to snap her out of it was for the girl she loved to kiss her." It was like Tracey was waiting for the perfect entrance.

Her arms shot up to caress Daphne as she deepened the kiss. Daphne moaned into the kiss as one of Tracey's hands lightly traced her cheek and the other tangled itself in her raven locks. It wasn't too long until they had to separate for a breath. Both girls took in a couple huge gasps of breath and moved to get back to their kiss. Before they could Professor McGonagall loudly cleared her throat, getting the attention of the suddenly red and bashful Slytherins.

James was completely focused on the two girls in his care. When he finally looked up after making sure both were awake and healthy he noticed that Filius had not followed him and Minerva into the antechamber. Just to be sure he took a quick look around for the small Headmaster, only to meet the very angry eyes of Hermione Granger. Which was more than a little frightening, if he was being honest with himself.

"Minerva, what happened to the Headmaster?" James asked.

"He took Severus to the Hospital Wing. I assume he needed to work out the shock of seeing one of the strongest staff members at the school being brought in on the shoulder a new student. If that wasn't bad enough, his employee was hurt as well. I feel safe saying he would like to talk to you in the near future." She explained lightly, like it was an everyday experience for her.

Hermione, Hannah, and Susan couldn't decide who they wanted to look at more and were pinballing back and forth between James and McGonagall. It was Hermione who ended up asking the question first.

"What did you do to the professor James? And why does this not seem to be an issue with you Professor McGonagall?" She didn't realize she was being stern with a professor until it was too late. Her eyes widened when she took in the smirking face of Professor McGonagall and let out a small 'Eep' in response.

"I'll ignore that tone for now Miss Granger, but don't let it happen again." She laughed at Hermione's emphatic nodding, "I'll even answer your question, since I'm in a good mood. James and I have been running into one another on and off for the last few years. I've seen James do far worse to far better people and it doesn't bother me in the least that James fought Severus."

"I wouldn't really call it a fight Minerva. He fired one spell before I knocked him unconscious." James smiled at the stern older woman.

"That's true. Anyways, Hermione, Severus appears to have jumped the gun on a dispute between two Houses. He was summarily defeated by James and is now resting in the care of Madam Pomfrey. Does that answer all of your questions?"

"Umm, for now, Professor. I think I will have more for James later. About this and other things I would like to know about." She turned to glare at James again, who gulped in fear.

It was then that Susan spoke up, "So should I be contacting Auntie Amelia?"

"No that's completely unnecessary. Snape and I will sort our problems out on our own." James' fear disappeared and in it's place was a grim mask.

Susan was worried about what happened, but she knew that James would never lie to her about what was happening. That didn't mean he would tell her everything, just that he wouldn't like about it. Until something happened that she deemed illegal, she would bite her tongue.

"Alright now that everyone is awake and we've gone over what happened, can we get onto the sorting and resorting? I'm tired and hungry and I would very much like to get away from the Great Hall." James whined.

"Yes of course James. Please sit down and I will go grab the sorting hat from the staff table." Minerva conjured comfortable chairs that reminded James of the ones in the Gryffindor Common Room, well everyone except Daphne and Tracey, they got a love seat to sit on together.

James had to smile at the sign of Minerva's very quiet sense of humor. She wasn't always stern and when she wasn't being stern her demeanor was still at least quiet and composed.

 **\- RFC -**

James and company didn't talk or even really look at each other besides the odd glance to the side. Everyone was far too caught up in their own thoughts to try and make small talk. Well James wasn't too caught up, but he could see that no one else was up for talking. After taking a quick glance around he leaned back decided to close his eyes until the hat was placed on his head.

Minerva McGonagall came back to see worried faces all around, except James', he wasn't even worried in the least from what she could tell, but I guess a sorting hat wouldn't be worrisome to someone of his caliber. She figured she would start with him. James would probably take longer than anyone else here. With that decided she plopped the Sorting Hat on his head and conjured her own chair to wait.

' _Well, well, well, it's very nice to talk to you again Mr. Potter.'_ The Sorting Hat spoke into James thoughts, thoroughly scattering his plans for what he wanted to eat.

' _Hello again, Hat. Hey, do you have a name by the way?'_ James thought back, making sure not to speak out loud, he knew that everyone was watching him and he didn't want to give anything away.

' _Ah, not many people have ever thought to ask me that. To be honest, I don't remember if I have a name or not. Most people just call me Hat, so that'll work for me.'_ Hat replied.

' _Alright, Hat it is. I'm kind of hungry and I would really like to go to bed after that. I would prefer to go into whatever house you will put the majority of these fine young ladies into. And don't give me any crap about how you don't know yet. I know you only need to be on our heads to talk to us, you can read them as long as your within three metres.'_ James jumped right into the heart of it, wanting to get this part over with as soon as possible.

' _I take it that you won't answer any of my questions then?'_ Hat sulked.

' _No, you know exactly what all of my answers would be anyways. Let me know what you decide'_ James quietly thought to the ragged old wizards hat.

' _You are absolutely no fun. We'll go with Ravenclaw then. I assume you'll want to tell them yourself after they've all been sorted.'_ Hat was still sulking, _'The strawberry blonde will go to Gryffindor, the rest will follow you.'_

' _Perfect. That will work fine for me. I know Neville will be able protect Hannah if it's necessary.'_ James finally took the ragged hat off of his head.

Everyone looked questioningly at James. It was weird that the Hat didn't yell out the House he would be sorted into. They noticed right away that he was grinning like a loon, but before someone could question him on it he slammed the hat down on Daphne's head beside him.

The moment it touched down on her head it called out "Ravenclaw!" loud enough to make James cringe and made his ears ring. ' _Hat, I know you can hear this. If you do that again I am going to put you in a bucket of bleach and bury it in the forest.'_ James threatened angrily, the stupid hat would know that he was serious.

Daphne let out a relieved sigh, but wore a confused expression. She was glad to get out of the Snake Pit, but didn't know why she was put in Slytherin the first time if she was acceptable for Ravenclaw too. She was worried about her little sister being there without her there to protect her. She knew that she would be happier this way though, as long as she could figure out a way to help her sister too. She passed the Sorting Hat onto Tracey while she pondered her problem. Eventually she realized that she would have to bounce ideas off someone and she knew just the person.

Tracey had the hat ask her if she wanted to remain in Slytherin or follow her lover to Ravenclaw. She didn't even bother to think about the answer, she only took a second before thinking back, ' _Ravenclaw. Definitely.'_ That was followed by a smirk somehow appearing on Hat's 'face', which no one could figure out how that worked and ended up chalking it up to 'magic'. After a moment for suspense Hat spouted, "Ravenclaw!" At least it was quiet this time.

Tracey handed the hat off to Hermione, who didn't even get her head fully inside the hat before it drawled, "Ravenclaw." Everyone knew that she should have been sorted into Ravenclaw the first run through. Hermione was glad she wasn't though, otherwise she never would have been able to become friends with Harry.

Next up was Hannah, with an excited Susan after her, Susan was hoping that all of them would be able to be together in the same House. As she was planning all the fun things they could do when they had basically the same schedule and could all hang out together in the same common room, the Sorting Hat was telling Hannah that she would be going to Gryffindor.

"Gryffindor!" Hat announced, hoping for a least a little drama. Hat really liked to see the drama that came with sorting someone into the House that nobody expected them to go into. Hannah looked like she was deep in shock and Susan's face fell at hearing her friend going to a different house than everyone else. Now Susan couldn't decide where she wanted to go. Did she want to follow her best friend into Gryffindor? Or did she want to follow the incredible man that captured her interest, and a large portion of her heart over the summer, into Ravenclaw?

It wasn't long before the decision was taken out of her hands. Hannah plopped the Hat down on top of her head and not a moment later it announced "Ravenclaw!" Most people would still be thinking about what they thought about what happened, but not Susan, she was just happy that the decision was made. She couldn't change it now and she would have to live with the consequences, not that there were many negatives.

The only negative Susan could really think of was that her and Hannah would be separated, but that wasn't that negative since they could always see each other outside of classes. They would even continue to share some of the smaller classes, like runes and arithmancy.

There were a lot of positive things that could come from this House arrangement. First and foremost, in Susan's mind was that Hannah could make serious headway on her crush. Hannah was possibly the only person aside from Susan herself that could see the man that Neville Longbottom would grow into. It wasn't a bumbling, soft spoken fool, either. No he would be a Lord worthy of respect and admiration once he grew into his own.

"Susan, are you upset that we're not going to be in the same House anymore?" Hannah asked hesitantly even though she was secretly thrilled that she could be closer to Neville and spend more time with him now.

"No, surprisingly I'm not. I mean, I wish that we still could be because you're my best friend, but I think this could be good for both of us. It's not like we'll never see each other again after this." Susan responded happily, lightly elbowing her friend with a conspirational wink, which made Hannah blush lightly.

"If it means anything, I know that Hannah will be protected by a friend of mine in Gryffindor." James offered to Susan, who nodded in thanks, before continuing. "With that all sorted, could we please follow the rest of our house to our new common room?" He directed the last to Minerva.

"Yes of course. I believe that they are just leaving the Great Hall now. If you leave through that door now you should come out right as they pass." Minerva answered politely, knowing that James was beginning to get tired of all of the little things that needed to be done to be alone, or at least be near a smaller population than the whole school.

All of the life force that was separated from him by only a single stone wall. It must have been very grating on his senses, after all he could sense the life force of pretty much any living thing. Most of them were small enough that he could completely block them out, like plants and the smaller animals. It was much harder to ignore people and larger animals, especially when they were in large groups. It was one of the reasons that he was currently going to a school that had such a high number of students, to get used to large groups of life force together.

Without another word James led the ladies out of the chamber and into the corridor where he quickly found the Ravenclaw group of first years that was led by a fifth year prefect. Hannah gave Susan a quick hug before breaking off from the group to follow the Gryff's up to her new dormitory and common room.

 **\- RFC -**

After weaving through various corridors, that James made a mental map of, they arrived at a rather nondescript door of dark, unfinished wood that had an Eagle shaped door knocker. The prefect explained that to get into the common room you had to answer a question or riddle, they based it on the level of knowledge possessed by the majority of the group, or a single person's level. This time it would either pick one for the prefect or one for the first years, it tended to switch it up at the beginning of the year and no one could predict which one it would be on any given year.

With the explanation out of the way, the prefect went ahead and knocked on the door. James and company half expected the knocker to come to life and ask its questions, but it didn't appear to animate in anyway.

It said, "Ah, some more first years and a couple transfers, how exciting. Well let's get onto the riddle, shall we?" The knocker seemed pretty upbeat, "Now. What is both the simplest thing to explain and yet the most complex thing known to mankind?"

The knocker would never ask something like that on a normal year, but this year it was told by the Grey Lady to ask this one question. It was told to ask this question every so often when the House ghost suspected that there would be someone worthy of being recognized as the Lord of the House of the Raven. Which is not the same of as the Lord of a Family House, which is an inherited position, this position was only given to the worthy. It didn't actually mean much except that the person could make and remove rules in the House and have them enforced as long as it wasn't too physically or emotionally taxing.

As of yet it hasn't been answered correctly. Sure, people gave answers that could be correct and got them inside, but it wasn't the answer that the Grey Lady was looking for. It didn't look like this year would be the year either. There was no one in the crowd that had any answer, let alone the correct answer, but as the knocker was about to ask an easier question, the new transfer student spoke up from the back of the pack of students.

"Love." He didn't speak loudly, or softly, but just the perfect tone and volume for everyone to hear it perfectly. His voice was solemn, but filled with joy, as if the answer brought forth a memory that was both a morose and euphoric one for the young man.

"Ah, yes, correct, very good young man." The knocker said as the door it was fastened to swung in.

Tracey, Daphne, Hermione, and Susan all looked at James oddly. Tracey and Hermione looked to the other two in the hopes of an explanation, they knew him the best after all. The only problem with that was that Daphne and Susan looked just as confused as they were. It seems that James would have some things to explain later.

All the first years swarmed into their new common room, James and the girls followed in behind the new students, they were excited as well, but not to the same extent as the firsties, they could wait. The prefect that led them to the common room gave a quick speech about comradery in the House of Ravens. He went on to explain the study periods and to be quiet when they were in the study room off of the main common area. After he sent the firsties off to their new dorms, the prefect turned to the transferring fifth years.

"The fifth year dorms are on the fifth floors up and down, for girls and guys respectively." He smiled welcomingly at them. Obviously he was chosen to be a prefect based on more than just his marks.

"Thank you for doing your job admirably Alexander." A rather ghostly sounding voice spoke up from behind them. "However I believe that this young man will be occupying the Lord's quarters."

"Thank you Miss Ravenclaw." James bowed towards the ghost that was now floating in front of them.

Hermione's jaw dropped. The Grey Lady was Ravenclaw's House ghost, but the thought that she was just an old student, or maybe an old professor that was Head of Ravenclaw. Nobody had ever even thought that she was Rowena Ravenclaw.

"Are you really Rowena?!" She demanded of the ghost, running up and stopping right in front of her with a manic glee shining in her eyes. Think of all the questions that she could answer!

"No child, I am not Rowena." The ghost let out a tinkling laugh, having dropped the strange ghosty tone. She saw Hermione's face drop at her answer and decided to let her in on her secret. "I am actually her daughter. Helena Ravenclaw, at your service young miss." Helena inclined her head regally to the bushy haired witch.

Hermione's face rapidly regained its intensely happy look, making everyone else laugh at what would surely turn into an excessive question and answer session. Hermione turned, sheepish expression firmly in place, before laughing at little at her own exuberance. It was exciting to be able to ask all the questions that no one besides Helena could likely answer.

"As much as I am sure that you're itching to ask all the questions you can possibly think of, as rapidly as your mouth could manage, but the rest of us are far too tired for this." Tracey punctuated her complaint with a jaw-breaking yawn.

Hermione looked appropriately abashed at her borderline hero worship of the ghost. Muttering darkly about how it isn't her fault that no one else had the answers to her questions. Her muttering rung another round of laughs from her friends and the Grey Lady.

Helena turned and led the group to a door off to the right of the stairs to the dorms that appeared sometime while Hermione was fangirling over the discovery of Rowena's daughter being a ghost at the castle. "Before I let you in, you must know that the Lord's Quarters are only capable of expanding to a total of six bedrooms off the main sitting area. It also has its own lavatory off the main sitting room as well." She quietly mentioned to the quintet. "On that note, I bid you good night. I would ask that you don't tell anyone else the truth about my identity." She smiled at Hermione in particular.

"Of course. If I may, could I seek you out to ask some questions from time to time?" Hermione asked as formally as she could manage, based on the old pureblood customs she had read about.

"Yes, of course dear. However, I do reserve the right to refuse an answer if I feel that it is not something that you should know, or is not my story to tell." Helena answered with a quiet smile.

"That sounds reasonable. Thank you Lady Ravenclaw." Hermione bowed once again, in thanks this time.

"Please, call me Helena, as long as we're in private of course." Helena bowed in return.

The group all bowed in farewell to her. Well not the whole group, James just nodded, but everyone was starting to think that he didn't really think anyone was actually above him. Which could just be true based on how much everyone actually _knows_ about him. Sure Susan had known him for the summer and seemed to have a fair amount of insight into his personality, but didn't know all about him. Daphne knew more, including more about his abilities, but still seemed to be at a lose on some things. That was probably because the same type of situations hadn't happened where they were together.

Tracey was obviously excited to get into their new quarters and go to sleep. She could even go to sleep without worrying about warding her door and bedframe. That more than anything made her happy. It was the first time in a long time that she felt like smiling without Daphne saying or doing something to make her feel that way.

Just as she was opening the door a taunting voice called out across the common room. "What are you going to do about it Looney? Gunna sic your make-believe creatures on me?"

Over on the other side of the common room a rather disappointing confrontation was taking place. There was an Asian girl that looked to be about a sixth year, taunting a younger student. She had long pale blonde hair hanging down to the backs of her thighs and a slightly out of focus look to her, like she was always looking at something that wasn't quite visible to everyone else. Her slim figure made her look much younger than she probably was, but she did have some curves.

"No, I don't control any of the creatures I talk about. I would never try to enforce my will on others." The blonde girl replied in an airy voice. "I would very much appreciate it if you returned my book bag though." She politely held her hand out for her book bag.

The Asian girl scoffed at the polite request, "Why would I give this to you? It's not like you use it at all. You give Ravenclaw a bad name by staring off into space all class." She threw the book bag into the air and made to draw her wand and burn her bag to cinders with an _incendio._

She didn't manage to draw her wand though. Once her hand grabbed the handle of her wand a hand wrapped around her wrist. At first she thought it was a prefect making sure that she wouldn't damage someone else's property, but that thought quickly left her mind, no prefect would stop her from doing something to Looney Lovegood. She tried to break the steel grip on her arm using all of the martial arts her father had taught her. Nothing she could do was able to break his grip though, even the painful pressure points on the hand and wrist did nothing. She hit the person everywhere that could possibly hurt them, instep, knee, groin, neck, everywhere she knew of.

James was getting upset with he attempts to hurt him. She couldn't do any damage at her level of strength. He shifted his grip and hoisted the girl into the air. "She may not be willing to enforce her will on others, but I am more than willing and able to do exactly that."

James was going to say more, but the Asian witch pulled her arm back and sent her elbow flying forward at James' face. The witch's face showed a sadistic glee when it appeared that he wouldn't be able to dodge or block the strike. Her sadistic glee only grew as she felt her elbow connect with James' face. Only to be immediately wiped from her face when intense pain radiated up and down her arm. The crack that she heard must have been her elbow rather than his face because her arm dropped, becoming completely unresponsive. James' face didn't even move, let alone show any damage.

James was impressed when the girl didn't even make a sound when she broke her elbow on his cheek. It wouldn't stop him from setting her straight, but he was impressed.

"Now, as I was saying, I will enforce my will on others. We are all of the same House, we need to be able to live together without having problems like these. I understand that not everyone will get along, but I will not tolerate any bullying in this House." James' voice was hard, like marble.

The entire common room was silent, until a friend of the Asian witch spoke up, "What makes you think that we will do what you say?" Her voice was wavering at the beginning, but got stronger when others started to make sounds of agreement with her.

"Well first of all, I have just been named the Lord of Ravenclaw. Second of all, and most importantly, I do not like bullies and react violently when in the presence of one. Before anyone call me a hypocrite know that I am well aware of what I am, but if that's the only way to enforce this, then so be it. If anyone has any questions about what happens when I react violently I would suggest you talk to Professor Snape. I believe he will be in the hospital wing for a couple weeks." James handed the book bag that he caught to the blonde girl.

"Thank you." She sounded just as scared of James as the rest of the students were, but for obviously different reasons.

"Don't worry little Seer. I would not harm you, I can already see that you would never purposely harm anyone, even if they were like this stupid little girl here." With that he finally dropped the Asian witch.

With that he walked back to his group of friends, tapping the Asian witch on the broken elbow as he passed, instantly healing it. His friends were staring open mouthed at him. Their surprise didn't come from what he said, or how he threatened the entire common room. No, their surprise was because of how fast he moved and the punishment that he stood up to at the hands of who they knew as Cho Chang.

Cho was known as an adept martial artist, as many oriental witches and wizards were. They believed that training the body helped train the magic in the body. Cho constantly bragged to anyone who would listen – and many who wouldn't, but were stuck wherever she was, – about how close she was to becoming a master. James took a lot of punishment from her without even twitching an eyebrow.

Before he could get back to the door to his new quarters, someone grabbed James' wrist and tugged gently to get his attention. James turned, a completely blank look on his face, not knowing is he was turning to face an enemy, or friend. James found himself looking down at the pale blonde girl he had just protected from bullying.

"What can I do for you little Seer?" James asked of her.

"Can you lend me your protection? I don't think this will make them stop. They will just get worse whenever you're not around." Her voice was still light and gentle as a spring breeze, but it had lost its whimsical tone.

"Of course little Seer, but only if you give me one thing." James answered with a gentle smile.

"If that is what I must give then I will." She spoke cooly, which forced a puzzled look out of James, and everyone else watching on.

His confusion was short lived though. The little blonde reached down to the hem of the shirt and gripped it tightly before slowly pulling it up. James' shock was so complete that he almost didn't react in time to stop her before she showed any important bits, but he did manage to grab her wrists and keep them from rising any further.

She looked up into his eyes, "Oh, do you want to do that part yourself?" Her question made him wonder what had happened to make her like this.

"No, that isn't what I want at all. I want to know your name. I think I'm right in assuming that it's not _Looney_." James smiled at her again.

"Are you sure that's all you want? I mean I know they aren't that big, but I think my breasts are quite nice." She looked down at her chest while her hands came up and massaged her breasts gently.

Everyone that was watching, dumbstruck by the actions of the strange little blonde girl. She was getting fairly into fondling herself before the sound of a throat clearing in front of her snapped her out of the pleasure she was giving herself. She looked up into the emerald green eyes of James and remembered that she was in the middle of a conversation before she started touching herself.

As soon as James was sure that he had her attention again he decided to answer her. "Yes, that's all I want. I would also like to offer you a room in the Lord's Quarters. Not my room, but a room." He quickly tacked that last bit on after seeing the way she quirked her eyebrow.

"I thought the Lord's Quarters would only have a room for you. It doesn't make sense for there to be more than one Lord Ravenclaw at a time."

"It is because every Lord requires retainers and many have family that like to visit from time to time."

"Oh, well in that case I would like to take a room in your quarters then." She smiled back at James in thanks. "I was wondering if you could help me get back the things that I'm sure have already gone missing?"

"Yes, I think that I can handle helping you with that. Now what is your name?" James was starting to lose a little of his patience with her aversion to telling him her name.

"Right, sorry. My name is Luna Lovegood." She held her hand out to shake, but James was having none of that. He took hold of her hand and turned it before bowing over it and placing a gently kiss against her knuckles.

"Pleasure to meet you Miss Lovegood." He grinned at the sight of her smile, even if he was a little disappointed that she didn't blush like he expected. "My name is James Clay."

"No it's not, but if that is what you would like me to call you Lord Black, then I will call you James Clay." Luna replied absently, already moving towards the group of girls that entered with James. She was intrigued by what looked to her like a Lord's harem.

"Well, fuck. I didn't really want that to be let out of the bag so soon." James grumbled to himself before speaking louder to the common room. "I need to know who the biggest gossip in this school House is. Immediately."

Nobody moved immediately, causing James to frown rather impressively, and frighteningly. It was after he frowned around the room that someone came forward. A pretty Indian witch had stepped forward. She had a gorgeous face and a curvy body that possessed average size everything, but in perfect proportions.

"There are no real gossips in Ravenclaw. We gossip with each other, but not with the other Houses. My sister is in Gryffindor though. She is at the heart of the entire school's rumor mill and gossip crowd. I could somehow get her in contact with you, if you would like?" She wasn't meek, but she wasn't sure of herself either, obviously off-put by his displeasure.

"I don't need to speak to her per say. I just need you to get her to make sure that a rumor makes it out to the entire school by tomorrow at breakfast, earlier if she can manage it." James looked into her doubtful face, "I will give both you and your sister fifty galleons, each, if you do this for me."

The girl's eyes widened to comical proportions, but she nodded rapidly before running out of the common room door, obviously trying to reach her sister before the curfew set in for the evening.

With all that taken care of, James finally thought he would be able to get some rest. It wasn't more than ten seconds before his face fell to look at his shoes and his powerful shoulders slumped. He had just realized that the Indian girl had left before she got the rumor that he wanted everyone in Hogwarts to hear. As he was sitting there moping to himself the dark skinned girl came running back inside.

She stopped in front of James and breathed hard for a few second before breathlessly asking, "What did you want me to tell her."

"I need her to say 'Hermione Granger, Susan Bones, Tracey Davis, and the Greengrass sisters, Daphne and Astoria, are hereby under the protection of the House of Black. Any attack on them will be considered an attack on the Most Ancient and Most Noble House of Black.' Please let her know that she will only get the money if everyone knows what I just said, almost word for word." He answered seriously, then handed her fifty galleons, her share of the promised money. James knew that she would still hold up her end of the bargain, even if she was already paid for it.

James turned to the door to his Quarters for the final time, hopefully anyways. He noticed something off about the doorway. There was no group of girls standing around it anymore. They had apparently gotten tired of waiting for him and his many distractions to run their course and went in to get ready for bed even though it was still fairly early.

He walked through the door grumbling about impatient women, making sure to keep it quiet, so he didn't draw any unwanted attention for his grumbling. He wasn't sure what it was about an upset woman, but they somehow had the power to completely nullify his powers.

 **\- RFC -**

James plopped down on the three seater couch and stretched out, looking to relax until the pain was completely gone from where the Asian girl had hit him. Just because he didn't flinch when he was hit, didn't mean it didn't hurt. James was just much better at ignoring the small amount of pain that she was capable of bringing to bear on his body. He could have made it so that it didn't hurt him, but that would have caused her some physical damage and he didn't want to cause something like that.

It didn't take long for James to be sleeping soundly across the whole couch. It was here that Daphne and Tracey found him after they were completely ready for bed. Tracey found herself wondering how that button up shirt could ride up that far and how he could get such definition in _all_ of the muscles of his stomach, seriously, every muscle she knew of was perfectly outlined on him.

Daphne was thinking along similar lines, but her thoughts took a decidedly less clinical stand point. She was wondering exactly what those muscles felt like. Daphne had to physically restrain one of her hands from rubbing the beautiful sight before them. It didn't stop her from quickly running back to her room and grabbing her camera. When she got back both Susan and Hermione were present and staring at him.

Susan was looking at him like James was something delicious that she would like nothing more than to gobble all up. Daphne met Susan's eyes over top of the couch and saw the way they lit up when she saw the camera in her hands. Quickly realizing Daphne's plan, Susan made hand motions indicating she wanted a copy of whatever pictures she took.

Hermione frowned at the thought of invading James' privacy, but didn't mean she wasn't going to ask for a copy. They were invading his privacy anyways, she might as well benefit from the situation. When Daphne looked to her to see if she wanted a copy, Hermione nodded vigorously, not that she would ever admit that to anyone.

Daphne quickly got into place a took a picture. She nearly dropped the camera in surprise when the flash went off and she was suddenly on top of something soft and cushiony. That was something she noticed in the back of her mind though, the large majority of her focus was on the knife blade held a hairsbreadth from her eyeball. After she realized it was only James, she started noticing all the hard planes of man that was pressed against her, even through the shirts they were both wearing she could feel the perfection that was James' torso.

"You shouldn't startle me Daphne. You know better than that _my Queen._ " His use of her old title did things to her. She hated being called the 'Ice Queen'. Though the way he said it seemed to have a direct line to the apex of her legs and suddenly she didn't mind the title.

"Yes, I do, but you looked so cute napping on the couch like that. You rarely relaxed like that when I knew you before and I wanted evidence, something to remember that you're not _just_ a warrior, but a regular person too." Daphne stood up to him as much as she could with a knife still hovering over her eye. "Now if you don't mind, could you remove the knife from my eye area."

James looked down and started, as if he was surprised that he held a knife at all. He let go and his hand moved to rub the back of his neck sheepishly. Daphne and Hermione both screamed as he let go of the knife. Susan and Tracey didn't even have time to react before the knife impaled Daphne's eye. The most amazing thing happened though, as the knife dropped it dissolved into dust that somehow managed to stay out of Daphne's eye. Besides being out of breath from the scream and turned on from James laying on her, Daphne was completely fine.

Hermione was not so lucky. She had passed out shortly after letting out her scream. Before she could hit the ground Susan, who was standing beside Hermione, caught her and laid her down gently on top of the low coffee table behind them.

"Wow, I knew she was a little high strung, but I didn't know it was this bad." James commented off handedly.

"You bet. I, for one, think that she just needs to get off more often. I doubt she does something so 'vulgar'" Tracey made finger quotations around the word, "With how much she studies and works on extra credit assignments she probably hasn't got the time to rub herself off." Tracey offered her preferred solution to Hermione's problem, with a smirk on her face.

"Yeah, it's far healthier to get that out of your system. It's not good for you to bottle up all the passion, desire, and lust. You should do something to let off that steam on a regular basis, even if it's to relieve pressure and stress." Susan threw out. She looked like she was going to continue, until she saw the contemplative expressions that Tracey and James were wearing. After that she suddenly found the rug under her feet immensely interesting, this allowed her hair, that was now out of its braid, to swing down and hide her impressively scarlet face from view.

"I definitely agree with you there." James quickly cut in before Tracey could start in on teasing Susan about her unintentional slip up. "It's especially important for people like me. It was a huge focus in our physiology courses at the Academy. It was a little bit intense."

"What do you mean people like you? Hot guys with sexy abs? I could see how see how sexual health would be something they wanted to teach you." Hermione muttered as she was starting to come to.

James let out a quiet little laugh hearing the quiet bookworm say something like that. While everyone else had their jaws sitting on the floor in shock, James decided to answer her questions, "Thanks for that, but no I meant people with enhanced instincts like mine. It's especially bad for Elementals of high strength. Actually Fire Elementals have the same problem, but for different reasons than me. Wizards and witches with Fire and Earth affinities have similar issues, but to a lesser degree." He explained.

Hermione fully woke up near the beginning of James' explanation of how important something was to him and decided that she needed to know more about this slightly interesting stranger. She would never admit it to anyone if they asked, but she was really interested in him. Daphne had hinted at the fact that he would need more than one companion and Hermione was starting to think that it might be worth getting a piece of him rather than the whole of someone else. Her parents had a rather open relationship with 'Aunt Jenny' that her mother went to uni with and they were happy. Maybe it's possible to share your entire heart with more than one person.

Her thoughts were abruptly interrupted by Tracey asking James a question that gave her some context as to what they were talking about before. "Daphne already told us the whole deal with how your instincts affect your relationship, errr, relationships, as it were."

Before she could continue James decided to set something straight about that line of thought, "No, relationship is right. Anyone that wants to be involved with me will have to know about everything that my situation forces upon me and them. There will be one relationship between myself and _every_ girl that I'm involved with, even if the girls are only friends, it won't be multiple singular relationships, but one large relationship." James' face was stony, obviously he wouldn't budge on this point.

"That's admirable James, but not the point, nor is it anywhere near what I wanted to ask you." Tracey glared at him with a frown.

"I needed everyone here to know that. As people that I am more than a little interested in, I needed you all to know that up front. That way if anything does happen, there will be no misleading, misunderstanding, or any other issues due to lack of information and honesty." James was dead serious. Tracey changed from angry to appraising, while Susan, Daphne and Hermione all copied her expression.

"Alright, fine. Can I ask my question now?" James smiled and nodded at her to go ahead, "Good. Why are people with Fire affinities, or Fire Elementals, affected like you, but in a different way somehow?"

"Oh, that one is easy. It's because Fire Elementals often have increased red emotions and often have a harder time controlling them because of the increased potency." James really liked talking about his people, it was cool to be able to talk to someone that didn't immediately laugh at him or think he's crazy.

James had tried to see regular mundane girls, but if he tried to explain that he had an overactive libido they just called him a pig or an asshole. When he had tried to date other Elementals they were only after the power he could give them. Elementals had kind of a power share type thing with their mate. Once they had a complete mate bond, they could each draw on the other's strength, it's definitely more in favour of the weaker mate. The weaker female Elementals usually ended up focusing far more on their looks than on their training so they could 'bag' one of the stronger males, it was sickening to most of the stronger males and females. Only the really shallow, assholey guys would accept those girls and they were rarely that powerful in the long run because they never trained properly.

"That sounds really inconvenient." Susan said.

"It really does. So what are red emotions?" Tracey asked.

Everyone else slapped their palms into their face at that. Daphne looked like she was about to speak up to explain it, but Hermione jumped all over it before she could even open her mouth.

"Red emotions are the fast onset emotions. They can also be called 'hot emotions'. The most common ones are lust, anger, etc. The ones that come to you in the blink of an eye. One second you're fine, the next you're in deep in the throws of emotion."

"Oh that makes sense. Fire sounds like something that would be all about those emotions and the control of them. The Hothead saying comes to mind." Tracey looked off into space, thinking about Daphne's little sister and her reaction to pretty much everything.

The silence that followed that statement was comfortable, surprisingly. As James was looking around at all the new and old friends he noticed something was missing.

"Hey. Does anyone know where Luna went?" James questioned everyone present.

"Well the door to the room that she picked is closed. I feel safe assuming that she went to bed." Daphne's small smile was finally interrupted by her answer. She was so happy to be able to be herself around more people than just Tracey. Having more friends was something that she always wanted at Hogwarts, but her 'Ice Queen' persona wouldn't allow for more than Tracey and her sister.

"Good. That means we can all go to bed as long as everyone else satisfied with the pictures that were taken and the answers to your questions." James smirked at the bashful faces on everyone.

Seeing as no one spoke up against his suggestion. James said goodnight to everyone before entering his room. James saw the king size four poster bed and found himself smiling and shaking his head. Wizards obsession with luxury would never cease to amaze him. Still smiling to himself, James stripped off all of his clothes and threw on some flannel pajama pants. As hot as his body runs, the draughty old castle could probably still get really cold when you're up this high.

He pulled back the curtains and went to get into bed, only to hear, "Can I pay you back now?" in wistful tone.

"Damnit, Luna. I told you I don't want anything like that from you." He pinched the bridge of his nose in frustration, when he opened his eyes he saw the hurt look on the little blonde's face. "Listen, it's not because you're not attractive, cause you're definitely very attractive. It's because one of my best mates has mentioned to me an intelligent blonde a year under him that he has his eye on."

Luna's sad face quickly morphed itself into one of happiness, he assumed at the compliment he paid her and the face that she knew someone fancied her, and curiosity, obviously wondering exactly who it is.

"Thank you James. Who is it that's one of your best friends?" Luna asked innocently.

"Ah, ah, ah, sorry Luna, but I'm not going to give that away. All I'm going to give you is he's a Lion. If you figure it out, you should confront him, but I'm trying to get him to work up the courage to ask you at and I'm going to keep working on that. Hopefully one or the other will happen either way." James chided her softly before giving in to her puppy dog look and giving her a hint.

"Oh, poo. You're almost no help at all." Luna pouted cutely, "Can I sleep in your bed anyways? I get nightmares when I sleep alone." She looked down in sadness.

"Of course, but first." James waved his hands and conjured her a set of loose cotton pajamas, pants and shirt, "There, much better."

James crawled into the bed on the other side. Luna was lying at the total opposite side, trying to stay as far away as possible. Obviously she was trying to make it seem like she wasn't in the bed at all. James knew that it wouldn't help the nightmares if she couldn't really tell that she was with someone else, he'd been there before after all. He flipped over onto his side and wrapped an arm around her waist and pulled her so that her back was against his chest.

Luna cooed at the protected feeling that being near James gave her. Suddenly she was feeling very tired and quickly started to fall asleep. She snuggled back into the warmth of his body and finally fell into a deep, untroubled sleep.

James found that he was really glad that Luna was really short. It would have been very bad if that well sculpted bottom was rubbing against his crotch, rather than his lower stomach. As he was falling asleep he thought about how interesting this year would be, it was already promising to be very busy. His last thoughts were about what he was going to do tomorrow, it was Saturday and it wasn't like he had classes to go to. He decided that he would start the morning with his usual workout and then plan from there after he finished.

 **\- RFC -**

 **Citrus Warning!**

Daphne laid in bed after an intense love making session with Tracey. Both were laying sweaty and satisfied in each others arms. She loved the feeling that Tracey's tongue and fingers could give her, whether they were on her creamy mounds, her pink nipples, or her dripping center. As much as she loved what Tracey could do, even with all the toys they could conjure after going to a sex shop in muggle London, she wondered exactly what she would feel at the hands, tongue, and most importantly, cock of James. As she was falling asleep, Daphne felt a rough, wet feeling run across her nipple and felt a bolt of pleasure run down her spine and pool in her core, but she was too tired to do more than let out a soft moan before she fell asleep.

Unknown to Daphne, Tracey was thinking the same thing as her head was pillowed on Daphne's perfectly formed, milky breast. She could tell that neither of them were one hundred percent focused on each other during the entire thing, it was still amazing, but they had had better before. Tracey had rolled off of Daphne after they had simultaneously flooded each others mouths with their honey, she was thinking if James would be as good at finding all her spots as Daphne is. Her eyes were finally starting to fall closed, she decided that she would think more on it after the post-orgasm glow faded. Before she fell too deep into the Sandman's embrace she stuck her tongue out and licked the sensitive nipple of her lover, feeling content when she heard the quiet moan.

Susan was lying in her own bed, chest heaving, sweat beading on her chest. Her sheets were soaked from the spray of her third and fourth orgasms. It was very rare for her to do that, it only happened when she was excessively turned on, but she couldn't really remember being more turned on than after she say James' unglamoured muscles. When she had seen his muscles like they were now, she had realized that he constantly kept them glamoured in the mundane world to seem more normal. He was still beautifully sculpted there, but here he was on a totally different level. Susan had planned to start going commando more this year as a kind of freedom thing, but she didn't think she could anymore. Every time she saw James she would have to worry about her thighs being sticky and her arousal dripping down them.

Hermione laid in bed, extremely frustrated, but she refused to touch herself. Not because of religion or thinking it was wrong. Her parents had been very open about sex and masturbation with her and she knew it was perfectly healthy to do it, but she didn't want to. On the train she had realized that there was no way she could ever make herself feel the same way, like James was capable of making her feel, without really doing anything sexual. What if she couldn't get herself off as good as he got her off earlier? Would she end up getting herself all riled up, just for it to end in disappointment? Or worse, not even be able to finish herself off and end up doing something she would regret when her hormones were clouding her judgement. That was a huge, irrational, fear for Hermione Jean Granger. She rolled over onto her stomach after tossing and turning before finally falling asleep, unconsciously humping the mattress until she was out cold.


	5. Chapter 5

**Disclaimer: I do not own any characters or anything else from the wonderful mind of JKR.**

 **I appreciate any constructive criticism or suggestions. Any purely negative and/or degrading comments/reviews will be ignored. Thanks.**

 **I'm still trying to find an illustration for James Clay to use as cover art, but I'm not having any luck.**

Hermione woke up feeling exhausted, staring at the ceiling while all of her new blankets were wrapping her up like a burrito. She had a restless sleep apparently. Her eyes were staring out, but her thoughts were turned inwards, wondering why for the first time since first year, she couldn't remember her dreams. She drew a direct correlation between her lack of memory with her restless sleep. _'I wonder what could have caused that? Maybe it was bad enough that my subconscious blanked the memory to avoid and psychological harm.'_ She mused to herself, then for the first time in recent memory, she decided she didn't need to know.

Letting out a jaw breaking yawn, Hermione rolled out of bed after fighting with the blankets for a minute to unravel herself. She stood and stretched, arms wide, back bowed, and legs spread wide for balance. With her muscles feeling adequately loose she brought her arms back to her sides and ran them up and under her heavy chest. Hefting them in her hands she sighed and wondered if she could somehow get a magical breast reduction, or something else for the back pain it caused. Hermione let her breasts drop and let out another resigned sigh, before barking out a quick "Ouch!" when her left hand brushed over her nipple.

"What the hell?" She mumbled to herself, not even noticing that she had used bad language. James seemed to be a bad influence on her.

Hermione pulled out the large collar on her over large sleeping shirt, completely ignoring the 'Books are my Porn' emblazoned on the front in red. Her mother had gotten it at a dentist's convention in Paris last year. Her right nipple was still the light peachy-pink it always was, the one on the left immediately caught her attention though. It was bright red, almost matching her shirt's writing, and looked to be slightly swollen and lightly throbbing.

"How the hell did that happen while I was sleeping? Why did it only happen to the one side?" Hermione asked herself out loud. Then a thought struck her, _'How am I supposed to wear one of my glamour bras if I can't even brush it with my hand?'_

She quickly decided that she would just have to cast a glamour on her shirt and hoped it last long enough to get her to the hospital wing and into Madam Pomfrey's tender care. Her glamour charms weren't all that powerful, she didn't really see the point in continuing to practice them when she had learned to sew them into her clothing in Runes class. She was regretting that school of thought right about now, but that was something to worry about after she got ready for the day.

She was deliriously happy that she had an ensuite bathroom here, it was so nice to be able to go to the bathroom in the morning without having to wake up enough to put a bra on. The only problem she had was that the door didn't have a lock, so she would have to use a door sealing charm to make sure no one came in.

' _Actually I don't think there is anyone here that I would be worried about seeing me naked. I know all the girls here would keep my secret and James definitely wouldn't tell anyone if I asked him not to.'_ She realized as she was opening the door.

Opening the door caused a strange feeling on the front of her pants that made her pause. When the wind blew across her body it made her notice the cold, wetness on the crotch of her pants. _'No! It shouldn't start for another week at least!'_ She mentally screamed in panic, scrabbling at the tie for her pants. Eventually her erratic fingers got her cotton sleep pants untied. She pulled the front out and looked in with wide eyes before letting out a brief sigh of relief. The relief on her face silently transitioned into confusion, she hadn't wet the bed since she was a toddler.

She moved her hand down to get a tactile sample of the fluid, it was strangely thick. It didn't take her long to figure out that it wasn't urine, but that's really as far as it got on feeling alone. She knew that she didn't want to taste whatever it was, but she couldn't see a problem with trying to smell it. She took a couple little sniffs, only getting small hints of sweet and musky tones. Frustrated at not knowing what it was she took a big, lung-filling smell. Getting the full scent, she suddenly realised what it was, it was her cum. _'When the hell did that happen? I specifically remember making the decision to_ not _touch myself anymore, or at least until I can't stand it anymore.'_ She amended her self imposed solo abstinence vow, she knew that if she was living around James she would eventually have way too much pressure built up and she would need to relieve it at some point. She was just hoping that she would have the person that caused the pressure help her relieve it.

Finally, fully aware of her current situation, Hermione noticed the stickiness on her legs and turned on the beautifully tiled, muggle-like, shower. Usually she showered at night before bed, but she missed last night so she felt that she should be fine showering this morning. Her hair was better now that she knew how to actually take care of it, but she didn't want anyone to be interested only in her looks, so she had her glamours on her bra set up to make her hair look bushy, it showed her old buck teeth, even though her dentist parents had fixed it when she was fourteen, and most importantly, it made her chest appear several cup sizes smaller. If anyone actually asked her out she would wait until she was sure they were dating her for her before she let them in on that little secret.

 **\- RFC -**

Susan Bones woke up well rested and a little upset. She had been trying to get back to sleep so she could pick up the dream where she left off when the sunlight woke her up. It was a rather interesting one that involved James, actually it was more a memory. It was the day that he took her hiking at the Miette Hot Springs, it was a ridiculously gorgeous place. Jasper is where she would live if she didn't have to stay in Great Britain for her House duties.

Susan sat up and stretched her upper body, finishing with a cute little yawn. Before she got up to get ready for the day she grabbed the brush off of her side table. The brush almost made it all the way to her hair before she frowned at the feeling of the handle. It was still a little bit sticky from her excitement the night before, she had fallen asleep before she got around to washing it off. Instead of getting up to wash it off she went the lazy route and just pointed her wand at the brush and scourgified the whole thing. Her hair was important and required constant maintenance, it helped that the brush massaged her scalp and felt amazing. It was spelled to perfectly wash and condition her hair every time she used it.

After her hair was properly brushed she braided it with efficient, practiced movements. She had done this enough times that she could let her mind wander a little while she did it. Before she knew it, she was thinking about what it would be like to be in a relationship with James and the other girls that were staying in his Quarters. She would never admit it, not even to herself, but the thought of being with the girls and James, separate and altogether, made her center tingle.

She had to wrench her mind away from that thought before she got herself going again. It was strange for her to think that way, she had tried to think of Hannah the same way before, but she couldn't see her that way, no matter how much she wanted to. Susan used to always have trouble getting off before the brush and she had hoped that Hannah would be able to help her out on that front.

Focusing her mind was far harder than it had been in the past which showed her exactly how appealing those thoughts were to her, but she did eventually manage it. At some point between getting off the train and now, the elves of Hogwarts had brought her trunk into her room. Come to think of it, it was probably when there was that harassment going on in the common room. She stood there wondering what she should wear for the day. Not knowing what she would be doing, she opted for comfortable skinny jeans that her Aunt had gotten her and a yellow tank top underneath a purple T-shirt that showed a fair amount of cleavage. She wanted to entice James, but she didn't want to come across as a scarlet witch. Grinning at how fantastic she looked in the full length mirror mounted to the back of her door with a permanent sticking charm, she opened her door and went to sit on the couch to wait for the others.

 **\- RFC -**

Daphne woke up to the soft snores of her bed partner, automatically recognizing the sounds Tracey made without even opening her eyes. She didn't want to get completely yet, she just wanted to curl up in the sunlight like a cat and sleep the day away. She couldn't do that, but she could bask in the sunlight streaming in through the window, so she stretched like a cat and settled back to let Tracey cuddle back up to her.

Daphne was just starting to get comfortable again when Tracey shot upright, screaming her lungs out. This had happened often enough that Daphne knew not to worry about it. Tracey had bad dreams about what had happened a few times in the Slytherin dorms when Daphne was away. Nothing had really happened, but a couple of time it got pretty close before Blaise managed to step and stop things. Blaise was a terrible wizard, it took him forever to get any spells to work properly, potions was where he exceled, but his true strength was his ability to fight. It wasn't any kind of wizard fighting that he was good at, no, he was a brawler at heart. His body was highly magic resistant which made it so that none of the other Slytherins could keep him down long enough to get all the way through the vile acts they had planned.

It only took a few moments for the end of Tracey's nightmare to pass and she collapsed down onto the bed. She let out a long suffering sigh, "Damn that was almost a full two weeks without one. Someday I'll be able to get over these stupid things."

Daphne rolled over and hugged her lover tight to her chest, petting her hair lightly and murmuring soothing things in her ear, sending a shiver of desire through Tracey's body when she felt Daphne's warm breath on her ear.

"I think I might have a solution to this problem that you've been having. I know that being back in the castle will make them come to you more often, even if we're not in Slytherin anymore. I doubt you'll agree to it, but I'll tell you what I was thinking if you want." Daphne offered quietly.

"Your going to tell me to sleep with James, aren't you?" Tracey glared at her dark haired lover out of the corner of her eye.

"Yes. You know me too well, obviously. I really mean sleep with him though, not have sex with him. Just sleep, full pajamas on and everything. I didn't have a single bad dream the whole summer that I was seeing him."

"Fine. I'll give it a try tonight if he's okay with that." Tracey reluctantly agreed to Daphne's suggestion, "Could you ask him for me though? I don't think I could actually do it."

"You know I would do almost anything for you Trace. I don't think you would really even have to ask, I bet that if you even mention that your having nightmares, James would offer to do anything to help." Daphne smiled at the thought of how selfless he was.

"I don't doubt that, but I don't think I could admit that I can't even sleep without help from someone. It's kind of embarrassing."

Daphne smiled at the rarely shown sensitive side of Tracey. Her cheeks were an adorable light pink and her eyes wouldn't meet Daphne's, it made Daphne want to squeal at how cute she was. She almost did, but she knew that Tracey would get even more embarrassed before getting mad and so, she decided against it. That brought to mind exactly how different this year would be for her, the Ice Queen was dead, long live the Queen.

"Alright, lets get a shower before we go meet the others for going to breakfast." Daphne threw the covers off and sauntered into the bathroom, enjoying the feel of Tracey's gaze on her swaying hips.

Tracey was mesmerized by the completely intentional sensuality of Daphne's well shaped behind when she exaggerated her walk like that. She finally snapped out of it, shook her head, and jumped out of bed to rush into the bathroom to join her for a little morning _snack._

 **\- RFC -**

James was walking back through the school, using his shirt for a towel, wondering what everyone was staring at him for. Hadn't they ever seen someone work out before? It wasn't like he was doing anything special, actually he had only done half of what he usually would. It was hard to leave Luna alone when she pouted so cutely. He didn't manage to get out of the bed until she had fallen back asleep and he managed to sneak his arm out from under her.

He could see a lot of girls looking away and whispering to their friends whenever he looked at them. He heard more than a few giggles too. James didn't really spend too much thinking about it, he had found a good place to sit and meditate for a half an hour before his work out. His new meditating spot was a on a rock around the back of the Black Lake, he could see almost the whole front end of the grounds with that castle as a backdrop, it was gorgeous and out of the way. He could really relax there.

James shook himself from his thoughts, knowing that he would be asked questions if the girls were up and he would have to answer them or suffer the wrath of stubborn, intelligent women. Everyone knew that those kind of women could think up the worst possible consequences for ignoring their questions when they really want to know.

He ignored all the looks he got from the people that were studying in the common room, even though classes hadn't started yet. James carefully weaved through the study tables that littered the room directly between him and the door to his quarters, leaving some people staring in shock at how fluidly he could move for such a strong-looking guy. He wasn't a huge muscle head, but he was significantly built up, which looked over muscled for most wizards. Witches were staring for two reasons, shock, and attraction.

The door to his Quarters was open and there was an almost constant stream of older students, mostly female, but some male, going in then coming out. James' confusion at what was happening only grew when he saw the contrite look on every single face after the person left.

When he stepped up near the door the stream stopped and allowed him entry, it seemed that he already had the foundation of a reputation built in the house of ravens. He nodded his thanks to the person, not wanting to come across as rude or heartless since he wasn't either one of those things, well not most of the time anyways.

"Hey, Susan," James asked the first person he knew, "What exactly is going on in here?"

Susan was almost as flabbergasted as James was, and she was there since the beginning of…whatever was going on. Most were bringing in little articles of clothing, or strange pieces of homemade jewelry, in some cases the person came in empty handed.

All of them knelt before Luna, who was sitting in an ornate throne where the couch used to be. After kneeling, the person would offer up their item and say they're sorry. Luna would then take the item, place it on the pile next to her throne, then say that the person is forgiven before slapping them lightly on top of the hand, like smacking a kitten's paws when they do something bad.

James quickly realized what was happening. After the show last night and essentially telling everyone that Luna was now under his protection, people were quick to return her things and/or apologize to Luna before something happened to them for being bullies.

James walked up to the head of the line, "I see you're holding court Moon Princess. Are you feeling better now?" He had to smile when Luna let loose a mega watt grin at her new nickname and his smile only widened when she nodded vigorously in response to his question.

Luna turned back to the last person in the queue, quickly accepting their apology and sending him on his merry way, looking both relieved and happy. James spared a thought as to why he was relieved, deciding that is was likely a mix between letting go of guilt and avoiding the repercussions later.

Once the door was closed and only the residents were left inside. Luna jumped up and launched herself into James' arms. "Thank you, James. I think you might be the best thing to happen to me since Mother died." She started to tear up but she refused to let them fall.

James hugged her back tightly before pulling back and reaching up and wiping the tears away. "I'm flattered, but I don't want to see you crying, alright?" He said softly, knowing that this was something she would want to keep to herself.

Luna nodded against his chest, making sure to wipe any remaining tears on the undershirt that he was wearing. "I can handle that. Could you tell me why you're not wearing a real shirt?" She asked, curiously.

"I forgot to bring a towel to wipe off with after my work out so I used the shirt that I was wearing for that." James rubbed the back of his neck, sheepish expression on his face.

Daphne, Tracey, and Hermione had started to come over now that 'court' was over. They – and Susan – inexplicably felt the need to face palm, even if they didn't hear what was said, they knew it was incredibly stupid.

"Why didn't you just conjure a towel?" Luna asked.

"I'm not like wizards and witches, I don't like to use magic for everything. Actually I try to use actual magic as little as I can. Using the power of Earth is my second choice after just using the power of my own mind and body." James answered seriously.

"Well that's stupid. Don't you want to make your life easier?" Tracey scoffed.

"It's something that we train in. Magic fail's you a lot more than your mind, body, and element ever will." It was Daphne that answered this time.

"It's still stupid. It does explain why you stopped doing so much with magic though." She looked pointedly at Daphne.

Susan frowned in thought before asking, "So when you were pretending to be a muggle this summer, it wasn't really that hard for you?"

"No, it was really, really hard. I very badly wanted to use my power over Earth to show off a little. I actually did a couple times, but not overtly." James laughed at the understanding that flowed across Susan's face.

"That's how you did that?!" She started hitting him on the shoulder while blushing a furious red.

James only laughed a deep, rolling belly laugh at her outburst. It only got worse as he noticed the confusion on everyone's face. Susan had stopped hitting him by that point and was staring determinedly at her toes, like they held all the secrets of the universe. James looked at her, gauging whether she would get mad at him for telling or not.

Susan's head snapped up when she heard James take in a big breath. "Don't you dare tell them!" She snapped at him.

"What? Why can't I tell them? It's really not that bad." James laughed at her offended expression, "It's not like I actually saw anything, it was more of a test than anything."

"I don't care. If anyone is going to tell them what happened, it will be me. You won't be there either, that is girl talk, no men allowed!" Susan shook her finger at him, to make sure he knew that she meant business.

"Fine, you can tell them while I have a shower. I probably stink." He rolled his eyes at her steadfast refusal to let him hear her tell the story.

"Yeah, you reek Earth boy." Tracey sniffed dramatically before pinching her nose closed and screwing her eyes shut.

James flipped an important finger up at her over his shoulder. "Yea, but at least I don't smell like two different girls all the time."

Tracey blew a raspberry at his comment, completely uncaring of what he said. A second later she realized that she didn't even have a single clue as to what he meant. She looked over at Daphne in confusion, who looked back at her in sympathy before leaning in and whispering in her ear. With every word she got paler, until at the end her face glowed like a tomato. Suddenly she was helping Susan with her quest for answers in toes.

Hermione and Susan laughed long and hard at Tracey's sudden quiet meekness. They were leaning on each other, gasping in as much air as they could between fits and giggles. Daphne was even laughing out loud now, almost as much at the two that were now sitting together on the floor, as she was at poor Tracey.

After everyone had calmed down and Tracey was back to her normal self Daphne asked, "So Susan, what is it that happened that was so embarrassing for you?" She wanted to hear it before James got back and Susan clammed up until they were alone again.

"Do you really want to know?" Everyone nodded, even the suspiciously quiet Luna, "Fine. We went out hiking in the mountains surrounding Jasper, a Canadian town with beautiful mountains surrounding it. There was a lovely lake that we got to near sunset. We had a romantic picnic on the lake shore while it set, painting the horizon in gorgeous pastel colors. After it was dark and we were the only people around the lake, James managed to convince me to skinny dip under the stars with him. After doing that and sharing a perfectly romantic kiss in the middle of the lake, we got out and I made sure to be completely hidden from him. I went looking for my clothes, only to see a raccoon running off with them. I knew I couldn't catch it, but I wasn't going to let James see me naked either." The other girls made all the right sounds at all the right places, gasping, then laughing when she got to her argument with James.

"Then I eventually admitted that my clothes were gone and I needed to borrow some of his. I knew that he had packed his work pants that he could wear and I could use his track pants that he was wearing for the hike. He laughed at me and gave them to me, but it always felt a little fishy that he brought extra clothes. Now I know why. He got that stupid raccoon to steal my clothes and run away. I should have figured it out when he gave the clothes back to me a couple days later, saying he 'found them' while out in the woods."

The girls laughed at the anger on her face. She tried to hold up the anger in the face of that laughter, but she couldn't do it and broke down in laughter with the other girls. If someone had told her that she would have more than one good friend just a day after returning to Hogwarts, she would have laughed in their face before calling them insane. Now she couldn't imagine this year without the four of them, even if there was one late addition to their little group.

"You know? We should get revenge on James for that little stunt." Everyone's head swiveled around to look at Hermione, not expecting something like that to come from her, "What? Just because I like to follow the rules doesn't mean I don't like to have fun." She defended herself from the incredulous looks.

"That sounds like a lot of fun, but what can we do? He's had extensive training and is quite capable of heading off pretty much anything we think of." Daphne pointed out.

"How about we do almost the same thing he did to Susan, but to him and maybe a little more public?" Tracey suggested.

That peaked everyone's interest. Not only would they be able to prank James back in return for what he did to Susan, but they would also get to see James in all his glory. It was a rather addictive thought for at least three of them, likely four, but one wouldn't admit to herself, or anyone else, that she was attracted to him.

"What did your devious little mind have in store for him, Trace?" Daphne smirked at her best friend and lover, knowing that this would definitely be fun.

"Well I'm pretty good friends with a couple of the house elves that are here at Hogwarts and I think I can convince them to help us out." Tracey started to explain.

"What does that have to do with anything?" Susan interrupted, not sure why house elves would be involved.

"You know that they have all those different laundry spells, right?" Everyone nodded along with Susan, "Well they can do all sorts of things with them. Moving on. So here's what we do…"

Tracey explained her whole plan to her cohorts, making sure to whisper as quietly as possible, just in case James' hearing was good enough to hear their normal talking over the sounds of his shower or if he got out of the shower unexpectedly. When she finished her pitch the girls all sported maniacal grins, even Luna, who had no real desire to see the result, she just liked having friends to play with.

After James had come out of his room, dressed casually in a pair of light wash, boot cut jeans, a regular dark blue t-shirt, and a pair of black boots. The shirt was probably a little tighter than it needed to be, especially at his biceps and across his shoulders, but even he wasn't above showing off his physique a little, he had worked extremely hard to obtain it after all.

Daphne and Susan were the two that were most used to his appearance, but even they weren't completely unaffected by the well sculpted man in front of them. After snapping out of the mini-stupor that she was in, Susan dramatically fanned her face with her hand, saying, "Are you trying to make all the ladies in the school jealous of us on the first day?"

Daphne giggled at this, snapping the two of the other interested parties, even if one wouldn't admit it, out of their own stupors. It did not sound right to hear Daphne giggle like that, not even Tracey had heard that before. It was a tinkling sound, like wind chimes made of ice floating on a gentle breeze and it made James break out in a winsome smile that made a couple knees weak.

"What are those boots made from?" Luna asked seriously, not breaking her stare from the boots for her question, or the out of character giggling.

"Oh these old things? They're made from Naitaka skin." He answered, earning him confused stares from the assembled females.

"Have you heard of the Ogopogo of Okanagan Lake in British Columbia?" He tried, not expecting any positive answers from the witches present.

Four of five witches continued to look at him with confusion written all across their faces, but one slowly morphed from confusion to understanding. Hermione's face brightened when she dragged the memory from the depths of her crowded consciousness. She nodded emphatically, already opening her mouth to go into lecture mode, but then she stopped and looked askance at James, they were his boots after all. He motioned for her to go ahead with an indulgent smile.

Hermione shot him a thankful look before starting in on the explanation as she knew it, "The Ogopogo is a fresh water sea monster, as weird as that sounds, it's the best way to explain it. It is said to be a giant serpent that is well over eighty feet long at last supposed sighting. It was often sighted early in the day, at dawn, or late, at dusk, ensuring that no one got a really good look at it. It's trademark, so to speak, was making 'humps' coming out of the water with it's body."

Hermione finally stopped for a proper breath and James took the brief pause to throw in, "It was actually said to be very docile and helpful, pushing adrift boats into dock and saving children that were in trouble."

Hermione had caught her breath sufficiently to continue, "I have heard that, but there is little to no evidence. No one in magical Britain knows anything about it, nor feels any need to look into it. Well that and everyone thinks there is no magical community in Canada to consult with on the topic. Anyways, the mundane people of Canada have come to the, somewhat believable, conclusion that the creature was, in fact, an extremely old, extremely large prehistoric fish called a Sturgeon. Ugly fish that have changed very little in thousands of years, known for their almost armour-like skin and sharp teeth, set in powerful jaws." Another quick set of breaths, "Other than how the mundane's use it as a means to draw tourists and make money off novelties, that is the extent of my knowledge."

"Very thorough. I can see how people name you to be the smartest witch of your generation. All of that is true, but it is lacking some of the specifics. The Ogopogo isn't a race, it's the name of the creature in the Okanagan Lake. A mundane had heard a magical call it that and the name spread like wildfire. Ogopogo is docile, as are most Naitaka, but can be a force to be reckoned with when cornered or when it's young is in danger, although they mate once every millennium, so it's not a worry for most people. The race is actually spread across the world with slight differences in appearance, Nessie for example, is a Naitaka, so is the world snake from Norse Mythology, that one is significantly older though." He had everyone's undivided attention and it felt good to teach a little again.

"So, are these things magical?" Daphne asked, happy to be learning from James again, even if it was a little informal beast knowledge.

"Of course, you've heard of the Bermuda Triangle, yes?" Affirmative nods, "Well that is caused by the oldest female of the species. She guards her territory vehemently, destroying anything unnatural that enters it, so basically everything man made, magical constructs included, even most predators stay away from the area. Another of the few females is Nessie, the Lock Ness Monster." Everyone answered him with a stunned look.

"Good, you all got that one. Moving on though. Naitaka are halfway between snake and fish, they can breathe above or below the surface of the water. Most importantly they shed their skin whenever they out grow it, like a snake, but unlike a snake, they never stop growing. Their skin is a lot tougher than any dragon out there, besides maybe an ancient iron belly, which there are none of because they kill each other before that happens. A basilisk is the only thing that comes even remotely close and the only one of those even found in the last few centuries was at this school and I've already collected all the useable bits off of that one after I killed it." James had a couple seconds to think _'Aw, fuck. I wasn't supposed to let that one slip.'_

"That was you?!" Susan screeched, face going pale.

"Umm, yes?" There was some serious talking that was going to be happening soon, hopefully he could postpone it until tonight at least.

"We don't have time to do anything now, breakfast is going to be over soon, but after that we will be talking about this." Susan's voice was stern like he knew her aunts could be.

"Fine. Can we at least sit by the lake while we do it? It reminds me of home a little bit." James sulked, knowing there was no way he was going to get out of this without a miracle. "After breakfast though." He tacked on as an after thought.

He got reluctant nods from the assembled ladies, Susan and Daphne knew that they couldn't actually make him do anything. Hermione had started to realize that she was unable to make him do anything that he didn't really want to do, it didn't really sit well with her. Tracey didn't even have any illusions about her ability to make him do anything, just watching how unnaturally he moved after his meditation.

 **\- RFC -**

James let out a deep sigh, leading the way to the Great Hall for breakfast. As they were walking James spent his time thinking about what he was able to tell them and what he needed to keep from them. It made his heart feel heavy to have to keep things from them, but there were some things that they just weren't ready to know about yet. They weren't strong enough to protect some of the secrets he knew. There were some secrets that weren't his to share too.

For some strange reason they didn't see anyone on their way down to eat. It seemed odd that there was no one in the common room, it was even more so that there was no one in the hall just outside the Great Hall. James and Daphne were both a lot more in tune with their instincts and they were telling them that something was off in Hogwarts.

Entering the Great Hall taught both Susan and Hermione that paying attention during announcements was a good idea. There were at least twenty students, all female, standing in between the middle tables with a respectful posture. Their stances were impressively uniform, but their school uniforms were at odds with the almost military precision. They all wore short sky blue skirts with white hose underneath, crisp, white, high collared shirts, sky blue half cloaks, and witch's hats in the same colour.

Susan, Hermione, and Luna were all watching James to see what his reaction to these new people would be, since they vaguely remembered the announcement that other schools would be visiting them for this year. Both Susan and Hermione didn't see any reaction at all, but Luna was far more observant, it helped that she was a Seer. Luna saw the way his eyes tightened slightly when he caught sight of the single girl standing in front of the group. She also saw the way his aura flared at the same time and happened to catch the way the mystery girl stiffened in response.

Tracey was watching Daphne while they were walking, looking for any hint that she already knew what they were going to talk about at the lake. She knew something happened in second year and it revolved around Slytherin's monster, which she now knew was a basilisk. She didn't get the hint that she was looking for, but she did see Daphne's spine rapidly stiffening. She watched as Daphne did her best to surreptitiously sidle behind James.

Tracey wasn't one for waiting when she wanted something, a trait that Daphne strongly disliked, so she snuck up behind the now mostly hidden Daphne and asked "So what's got your knickers in a wad?"

"That girl that's standing alone up front, she's one of the Sins." She whispered back to Tracey, quietly enough that only she could hear her.

Tracey peeked around the edge of Daphne's body and looked the girl up and down, "She certainly is sinful." She whispered back, licking her lips dramatically.

"No, well yes, but that's not what I meant." She whisper-yelled back at her, "She's an Elemental and she's one of the Seven Deadly Sins. They're the most powerful Elementals in their Element, the elite of the elite. They just might be the scariest people on this planet when they let loose."

Tracey was starting to question what this 'Sin' was doing here, but her worries wouldn't stop her from asking more questions. Some would call her crazy, but those people were weaklings, not willing to step out of their comfort zones in order to make the world a better place.

"Alright, so who are the other six 'Sins'?"

"No one knows. She was the only one that lorded it over the 'regular' people, like myself. She was always sniffing around James. It made me painfully jealous, but James always politely rebuffed her. She took offense one day, it scared the hell out of me, if it wasn't for James I would be dead at her hands. As it was he took a lot of damage to protect me." Daphne had turned around by now to look at Tracey while she was explaining everything.

Susan, Hermione and Luna were all listening as soon as she got loud enough for everyone near her to hear. Luna and Susan were both a little confused about the whole thing, but were keeping up about the same as Tracey was. Hermione was getting paler and paler as the explanation wore on. Until near the end she let out the gasp that she had been holding back since the first mention of the Seven Deadly Sins.

It was Daphne that responded to her gasp, "What? Do you know the Sins? I thought you were only a first generation."

"I am, but my grandparents were Catholics. The Seven Deadly Sins, also known as the Cardinal Sins, or Capital Vices, are basically the seven human failures, according to the bible. They are Lust, Gluttony, Greed, Sloth, Pride, Wrath, and Envy."

"Yes. They are all named after a Sin that they embody. That one is Lust. I never learned her real name, but I know why she got Lust. She's a veela, a strong one." Daphne continued explaining.

"That explains why most of the boys in the hall are staring at her." Luna pointed out.

Susan quickly shushed everyone that was going to continue with their conversation. Quietly pointing back to the front of the hall where she could see 'Lust' walking towards them. Walking wasn't the right term for what she was doing, she was somewhere between sauntering and flouncing. Riding the knife's edge between sexy and chaste, innocent and sinful, it was the perfect balance for someone wanting to attract a guy, innocent enough to be clean, but dirty enough to know what she's doing.

She stopped her strut, yes strut was the right word for it, right in front of the group, no right in front of James. She struck what was supposed to be a seductive pose. One knee bent, hand on her thrust out hip, and pushing her chest out like a little _**harlot**_. Susan had to rein in her anger before everyone around felt her magic flare in response. She managed to do it, just barely though.

"'Ello James. Eet is so nice to see you." She said with a throaty growl.

"Nice to see you too Fleur. Drop that ridiculous accent, it makes you sound like an uneducated cur." James answered, his face was completely void of any expression, almost like he was totally emotionless.

"Oh poo. You're no fun James." The now named Fleur dropped her atrocious French accent.

She went to playfully slap his arm. The look on her face when he caught her wrist long before her hand got anywhere near touching him was priceless. Susan almost laughed in her face when it happened. She directed a hurt look at him. She got the same expressionless stare in return.

"You do remember the last time we saw each other right? When I said that our elements don't mix. Besides that, you're a Sin, and Sins are just not meant to mix with us normal folks." Susan shivered at the cold tone in James' voice.

"That is not true and you know it. Just because I'm a Sin doesn't mean that I can't be happy." Fleur's face fell at his tone.

"You won't be happy with me Fleur. You're just like the rest of the fools, thinking that power is the most important part of a person. It's not. In face it should be one of the last things on your mind when you're looking for someone to be with. Some of us aren't lucky enough for that to be the case, you should take advantage of the face that you can ignore someone's strength in matters of the heart." He let a small, sad smile slide onto his face.

James turned Fleur's hand and lightly patted the back of it. He flashed her another little smile, this one a little more genuine and dropped her hand. He turned around and went to go to Ravenclaw table. The French witch's expression morphed into a feral scowl before becoming completely inhuman as a beak started to grow and feathers started to sprout from her body.

The girls watched as the new witch turned into some sort of avian creature. Both Susan and Daphne knew what a Veela was and they stepped back in fear. Luna could tell that something not good was going to happen very quickly and she got her arms in front of Tracey and Hermione as she backed away, making sure that they stayed out of the way of what was about to happen.

It was a good thing too because as soon as they backed up the newly feathered Veela conjured a fireball in each hand. James didn't hadn't noticed, or at least didn't look like it. Apparently she didn't take the rejection well, just like last time, she hurled both fireballs at James' unprotected back.

Susan, Hermione, Tracey and Daphne all looked on in shock. Daphne had a second to think _'I should have warned him somehow.'_ She ran out of time to actually do anything though. Luna was the only one that wasn't watching what was happening with shock and horror on her face. Her face displayed a grin that would match the cat that caught the canary.

James stopped walking, without looking back he lifted his foot and stomped it down on the flagstone floor. His stomp caused the flagstone to lift up on edge, it doesn't sound all that impressive, but this was no regular hunk of stone that you saw in mundane castles. No this was a piece that was cut and levitated into place by the founders. It was ten feet by ten feet and close to three feet thick, and James up ended it with no effort at all.

It should have caught both of the fireballs, but her aim was off, way off, with one of them and it flew off towards the Gryffindor table, where everyone was pointedly ignoring what was happening. James watched the fireball carom on past him, almost nonchalantly he called out.

"Neville, if you would."

James didn't pay much attention to the Great Hall as a whole, he just watched Neville, expecting him to do something. Neville was the definition of passive. He never rose to taunts, he never fought back when he was hexed by the Slytherins, didn't even blink when they called him a coward. Everybody thought he was damn near a squib and nobody thought he belonged in Gryffindor, but he wouldn't fit in any of the other houses either.

Hermione yelled out a wordless call, hoping that Neville would finally rise to the occasion. She needn't have worried though. The fireball approached the table and Neville lifted half an arm, leaving the elbow on the table where it was resting before. With his raised hand all the water on the table lifted from where it was, even the water that Seamus was attempting to turn into rum, it all coalesced into a ball the flew into the fireball's path. When they collided there was no steam, the water just enveloped the fire and it was gone. The water then retreated to it's previous containers.

"Thank you Neville. Does she know?" Everyone could hear him, but only half the Great Hall could see him. They were unconsciously flinching away from what they saw there.

"No. She never proved herself trustworthy enough. She only knows of one other and you know how Wrath was with the whole mask thing." Neville answered.

"Good. Oh, and Neville, you should think about dropping that stupid glamour. People should know the real you, not this whole sheep persona that you've built for yourself."

"Is that an order?" Everyone could hear the grin in his voice, Neville would never stand up to someone like this before, something changed.

"No, a suggestion." They heard the grin in James' voice as well.

Neville laughed in response. An affirmative laugh as it turns out, since his form rippled at the same time. His short five foot eight frame grew to just over six feet and his shoulders broadened while his waist sucked in. He was built like James was now, but a couple inches taller and a little less broad of shoulder. He had a warrior's build, and obviously knew one of the Sins, besides Fleur.

Neville finally looked back at James, what he saw there had him acting before he even processed the thought. He threw his hands at where Fleur was standing, every drop of liquid in the hall followed his throwing motion. The water flew into a semicircle behind Fleur and made a hallway of water leading from James' flagstone to Fleur, who was back to being a gorgeous witch.

Neville roared out " **FREEZE!** " in the loudest, most commanding voice he could manage.

It didn't take a rocket scientist to figure out what he meant. Daphne could see the it was easily the largest amount of water that she had ever tried to freeze, but she also knew that a water elemental would have it completely pure, easy to freeze. She threw all the power she could into freezing every drop, and somehow managed to do it. It left her on her knees, sweat dripping down her face, panting like a dog in heat, and shaking like a leaf in a windstorm.

There was a collective gasp all around the Great Hall. There isn't any magic that can freeze that much water that quickly. For that matter it's not possible to move water like that and hold it where it is. Magic was a wonderful thing, but there were somethings that it's just not capable of doing. It definitely wasn't possible to freeze so clearly that it was like glass. Daphne didn't do it on purpose, but subconsciously she wanted to be able to see what James was going to do.

James called out to Fleur, "You made a mistake Lust. I don't mind you attacking me, but as soon as you start endangering innocent folks, it becomes an issue for me." His anger was palpable. Daphne could feel it rippling against her ice walls. It was both the most frightening thing and the most exciting thing at the same time, she could feel her body reacting to him in every way. Her chest started heaving, her nipples hardened to points, her center moistened, and her entire body shook as it fought itself on whether to be aroused or to be scared for her life. It was thoroughly exhilarating.

Susan watched in horror, her body felt the same things that Daphne's did, but she didn't understand them nearly as well and her body only reacted to the fear that James' anger instilled in her. Her body nearly shut down, it was all she could do to remain standing and watching. She was immediately glad that Daphne had created that wall of ice. Even if James was on their side, she still didn't want nothing between his anger and herself.

Hermione watched in fascination at the power these elementals could bring to bear. Her analytical mind was completely taken with everything they were capable of and she couldn't wait to ask them all questions. She also found herself wondering how it was that no one caught Neville's glamour before, if anyone knew how hard it was to hold up a glamour for any length of time, it was Hermione. She knew that she would have to ask him how he did it at the earliest opportunity, which she knew would be soon given how close James and he seemed to be.

Tracey was closely connected to Daphne, on a level that no one really understood, especially not the two of them. Her connection was so close that her reaction was identical to Daphne's, but she had none of the knowledge to go with the feelings. All she knew was she was extremely turned on and could really use a cold shower. Or a several hour romp session in the bedchamber with Daphne, the only problem with that thought was it was constantly switching between Daphne and James that she was loving. Eventually her subconscious decided that both would be the best.

Luna let all of the anger, fear, and arousal of the assembled witches wash over her. She knew that Neville was always hiding and she wasn't disappointed now that she was finally able to see what exactly he was hiding. She was glad that James intended to introduce them. Before that she wanted to watch this unfold, so she conjured another throne and sat down to watch.

James appeared to be waiting for Fleur to answer his statement. She was standing there waiting for him to attack, certain in her knowledge that she was far more powerful than James. She didn't even feel the power he was radiating for some reason. It dawned on Daphne that it was because Fleur was an Air elemental, she couldn't feel the power of the Earth that James was radiating.

James decided that he had given enough time to the smug little bird on the other side of the ice corridor. He drew back his arm, clenched his fist and threw a haymaker at the flagstone. It shattered into pieces, most flying at the witch opposite him. Fleur waved her hand and a gust of wind blew the pieces down onto the floor.

"Is that all you've got James? I thought you were better than that." Fleur taunted, not knowing what she was getting herself into. Air was a healing element. She didn't have the combat strength or experience to go toe to toe with James.

"No Lust, it's not. You aren't going to like what comes next." James' voice was distorted.

Fleur looked on in horror, she couldn't believe that this had happened. She had finally found him. She had found the leader of the Sins. She had stopped looking for who he really was almost a year ago. Fleur would recognize that mask anywhere, it was the one she saw every night before she went to sleep. He had saved her life and she had always wanted to thank him, now she had attacked him and his friends.

James was wearing a mask that was made of stone, pure black stone that had veins of white going through it. All it had was eye cut outs, perfectly outlining his green and gold eyes.

"No it can't be. You can't be him. He isn't a weakling like you." Fleur screeched.

"I am him. I constantly hold my power back. I want to be normal, I don't want to lord my strength over others. I am not like you Lust. You will rein yourself in, or you will regret it. Try to be a nicer person, it's a better way to live. I know you've been discriminated against, but that's no reason to be a moose's ass." James intoned.

"You're really him then?" Fleur was completely dismayed, but she could already tell that she would be forgiven if she made an effort to be a better person. She decided on the spot to be a better person. James could see her decision and smiled, even if she wasn't able to see it at this point.

"No! You can't be one of them!" Daphne screeched, her face showing how distraught she was.

"I'm sorry Daphne, I really didn't want you to find out this way. I wanted to tell you on my terms, but it appears that life had other plans for us." James answered.

"Daphne, what do you mean?" Susan asked, she couldn't figure out why Daphne would be freaking out about James' mask.

"He's one of the Sins." She whispered, aghast. Everyone looked at her, unsure of what exactly that meant. "It's him, the leader, the strongest of the Sins. He's Envy."

"Why is he called Envy? I can't really see James being one to envy anyone." Tracey asked, not falling into the same state as everyone else.

"That's not why they call him that. Hermione, what is another way people refer to envy?"

"Oh no. That can't be it. There is no way James could be like that." Hermione was in complete denial.

"Yes, tell them. I don't want to say it."

"Fine. Mundane's also refer to envy as _'The Green Eyed Monster'_."

 **A/N: Thank you everyone for reading. As always constructive criticism, reviews, and suggestions are all welcome.**


	6. Chapter 6

**Disclaimer: I do not own any characters or anything else from the wonderful mind of JKR.**

 **I appreciate any constructive criticism or suggestions. Any purely negative and/or degrading comments/reviews will be ignored. Thanks.**

Fleur had completely ignored the drama that was happening on the outside of the frozen hallway she found herself in. Her entire being was focused on the man in front of her. James must be playing with her, there is no way that he could be Envy. Envy was ruthless, a killer of the highest order, but not one to take joy in the killing. James was weak, not in power, but in will. He did not have the stomach for killing, he couldn't even hurt anyone that he sparred with.

James must have figured out how to conjure a marble mask, like Envy could. He must have seen Envy at some point since even the veins of white were in the correct places. James was obviously a wizard, likely a strong one too, he must have used magic to conjure the mask. That must be what it was. James _couldn't_ be Envy, there was just no way.

"I can see on your face that you don't believe that I am who I say I am. What could I possibly do to prove to you that I am your commander?" James called out to her.

"There is nothing you could do. You can't be him." Fleur screeched back at him, her features turning slowly avian.

"Of course not. Tell me, what does Envy have that no one else could possibly have?" James tried to keep his voice even, but you could still hear the smile in it.

It wasn't the avian woman across from him, it was Neville. "I believe your hammer should do it Envy. There is no way that anyone else could possibly wield it, aside from a Giant." Neville's voice sounded like it was coming from under water.

At the sound of Neville's voice, everyone turned back to him. There they say another strange mask. This one seemed to be made of water, they could see basic features of Neville's face through the constantly rippling liquid. If you didn't already know it was Neville, you would never be able to tell it was him. It appeared that he was one of these strange people.

"No, not you too, there is no way that there are two of you here. It can't be." Fleur was thoroughly in denial now. The two strongest of the Sins were here, at this school, impossible.

"Well it's nice of you to out yourself too, Pride." James laughed when 'Pride' flipped him the bird in response.

"Right so the Hammer. That should be fairly easy." James cleared his throat rather obnoxiously before holding his hand out over the bare rock of the Earth that he had uncovered earlier.

That pulled some confused looks from pretty much everyone in the hall, and more that a few laughs from the Slytherin table. James could hear a few whispers about how ridiculous he looked, but he just smiled to himself underneath his mask. Wouldn't they be surprised.

It was almost a full minute before Fleur spoke again, "Ha, must be embarrassing to be outed as a fake in front of an entire school." Fleur started to saunter towards James, flaring her Veela allure.

James could see the boys around the Great Hall fall under her influence. He made note of which of the guys in the school appeared to be unaffected, or at least were able to shake off the allure quickly. Surprisingly the redheaded twins of Gryffindor were almost completely unaffected, only showing a little bit of glassy-eyed staring before snapping out of it. He was unsurprised to see Ronald and Draco fall almost completely under their spell, until Draco was elbowed by the girl sitting beside him.

Fleur was only three feet from James when the ground started to ripple like it was water. Fleur didn't notice at all though, she was far too focused on the man in front of her, watching for the glassy-eyes of someone that has fallen under the allure. She had been working on the strength of her allure, she knew that it didn't affect James last time, but now it was almost five times stronger than it was then. James would be far too weak willed to resist her now. Only, that wasn't what was happening, he was staring evenly into her eyes with his own clear, emerald gaze.

Suddenly she saw a block of black cross the edge of her vision. She didn't get time to see what it was though, as suddenly she felt a crushing weight on her shoulder. Fleur toppled to the ground underneath the mysterious object. She looked to see James' shoes in front of her and beside them was sitting what looked like a huge block of some kind of metal.

"No, there is no way that it's you. You can't be Envy." Fleur's denial was in complete control now.

"Come on. I just produced the weapon of Envy, without asking for anyone else's help or using magic. What more can I do to prove myself?" James yelled, exasperated that she wouldn't admit the truth.

Fleur struggled underneath what she now knew was the haft of Envy's hammer, Terra, which was a totally unoriginal name if you asked her. She knew she wouldn't be able to lift it off of her, but she hoped that she could wiggle her way out from under it.

"Stop wiggling Lust, you'll never be able to get out from under it. Now, will you tell me why you are here?" James' voice had taken on a deep grinding sound like an avalanche again.

Luna was still enjoying the show from her throne, but she knew that it could possibly escalate further if she didn't step in. The girl under the hammer was never going to answer properly, she was far too involved in herself. James was going to get angry soon and she didn't think that was something that anyone wanted to happen.

"Well, James, I think she is here for the Tri-Wizard tournament." Luna explained.

"I thought that was supposed to happen last year. It's why I came to Hogwarts this year instead of last." James' confusion showed in his voice.

"It was supposed to be here last year, but with Dumbledore's ousting from all of his positions, and the Death Eater that he hired. He was impersonating an old friend, but you'd think he would notice right away if that was the case." Luna continued to explain.

"Luna, you only half explained what was going on." Hermione interrupted, wanting her to get back on track.

"Right, thanks Hermione. Anyways with that whole circus going on the other schools had decided that postponing would be a good idea. Durmstrang actually wanted it changed to their campus, but Beauxbatons refused that and the idea of letting it happen on their campus as well. So here we are, it's just happening one year late, likely with more security than previously planned." Luna nodded at the end, showing that she was done.

"Well shit, that really sucks. Neville was going to be the only one to enter, but now I'm going to have to, as well." James' face fell, "Sorry Neville, but you know that it won't choose you."

"Thanks for the thought James, but I didn't really want to compete anyways. It all sounds like a lot of time in the spotlight and you know that I hate that." Neville stood and walked up to the ice wall that encased the other two Sins. "Do you think that you could take this wall down James, I think that we should have a little talk with Lust."

James nodded, Daphne scoffed, that was the thickest sheet of ice that she thought she could produce without a whole lot of prep and low temperatures. She knew that James was strong, but the way Neville asked, it was like it wouldn't even require effort for him. Even someone as strong as James couldn't brush off all of her power that easily.

Daphne sneered as 'Envy' walked until his was within arms reach of the ice. He reached his arm out and pushed his fist out with one finger pulled back by his thumb, almost like he was going to flick something. Daphne's sneer hadn't changed, if anything it got more pronounced. 'Envy' – Daphne refused to think of him as James anymore – smirked at all the people watching him and _flicked_ the ice.

Daphne started to make a scathing remark on his foolishness, but she was stopped by the taste of humble-pie. 'Envy's' finger connected and a sharp, clear, ring sounded out before there was a sharp _crack_ and fractures started spider webbing from the spot he flicked. It didn't take long for the fractures had spread throughout the entire ice structure. Then it all collapsed onto the ground, a circular mound of ice chips.

"Thanks James, now please let Lust up. If she attacks again then you can put her in her place again, it's not like it would be hard for you." Neville pointed down at the still prone Fleur.

"Yea, alright. Fleur, I expect you to take your school mates and return to wherever it is that you will be staying until the rest of your school follows. Please don't attack anyone else, or as your commander I will be forced to reprimand you. Permanent dismissal sounds good." James bent down and picked the hammer up off of Fleur, making it look as easy as pie.

With that all settled, James and Neville both let their masks drop. James' crumbled into dust long before it hit the ground and Neville's became just a blob of water that splashed on the ground, washing away the dust of James', almost like they had done that before.

 **\- RFC -**

"So did they forget about us? Or what?" Susan asked, watching Neville and James leave the Great Hall without actually eating.

Almost immediately after Susan said it, James popped his head back in around the door. "Are you guys coming? We'll ask one of the elves to bring us some food down by the lake." He didn't wait for an answer, he just left, assuming that everyone that wanted to join them would.

 **\- RFC -**

James and Neville were sitting on a large rock down by the Black Lake, leaning against each other, back to back. Some looking on them would have said they were brothers, they had the same build, and their faces were similar, even their hair colours were pretty close. James was a little heavier built, surprisingly, and he had long black hair to Neville's short brown.

Sitting on conjured couches surrounding the rock were various people, mostly females, actually all females. Daphne, Tracey, and Susan were all sitting on one couch together, with room to spare since Tracey had plopped down on Daphne's lap. Hermione had conjured herself a working Laz-e-boy recliner chair and was fully stretched out in it, looking very comfortable.

Luna was seated in a throne once again, but this time it had a foot rest like Hermione's recliner, apparently she liked that feature. On another couch sat Hannah Abbott, Padma Patil, and Ginny Weasley, though nobody was as cuddly on this couch as others.

"So why are we here James?" Neville asked.

"Or right, I forgot that you weren't there this morning. I might have let it slip that I was there during the Chamber of Secrets incident. Don't worry no one heard anything about why I was there." James turned his head and opened one of his eyes to glance at everyone there, stopping several people from uttering what they were thinking, "No one will either, since no one will ask about it, right?" Even with only one eye, James' glare was impressive.

"Alright, so when the girl disappeared into the Chamber of Secrets, pretty much everybody heard about it. Even those of us across the pond. I was sent, my assigned goal was to destroy the giant snake and take the body back for study, secondary goal was to save the girl. I'm glad that there were others there to take care of her, I don't think I would have been allowed to enter the school through the wards at the other entrance to the Chamber."

"Do you know who the girl that disappeared was? Or who the others were?" Susan asked, glad that James wasn't watching them, since all the people involved in that incident were sitting in front of him and most were red with embarrassment, or anger.

"So if you couldn't defeat the Basilisk before the girl was dead, it was no big deal?" Hermione asked, admirably holding in her anger, and shooting Ginny a look that clearly said 'keep your mouth shut!'

"In the scope of what I was sent to do, yeah. Personally I couldn't let that happen, but the people that take care of my assignments don't much care about anything besides the assignment. I had to fight to get them to give me the secondary goal." James sighed, starting to get mad just thinking about those people, "But those people aren't going to be giving me anymore assignments, or anyone else now that I think about it." He smiled at that thought.

Neville perked up at that, "So the Sins are officially disbanded then?" The hope in his voice was palpable.

Daphne could be seen perking up at that. "How did that happen? Why do I feel like you're involved in this 'Envy'?" Her upswing quickly plummeted into the feelings of anger and betrayal she had felt since James revealed himself to be Envy.

"Envy is no more, as Pride and Lust are no more, I'm just James now, for good." James tried to avoid the question, he should have known better than to try.

"That was a rather pathetic attempt at avoiding the question James, you can do so much better than that." Tracey spoke up this time, making sure that everyone knew that she was on Daphne's side in this.

"Well, if it makes you feel any better I can't actually do any better than that. I am generally terrible at lying and misdirection. The only way I can do anything is by just not mentioning it at all." James explained, another sigh escaping without him noticing.

"Will you stop bloody sighing?!" Ginny yelled at him.

"Is that any way to speak to the person that literally saved your life? You're very lucky that I'm not a wizard, I could claim a life debt and demand anything from you in return, if I was a wizard that is." James snapped back at her, not willing to put up with any of her shit.

"James, don't take it out on her." Neville quickly stood up for his housemate, even if he kind of agreed with James. House loyalty is important to someone of Neville's upbringing.

"Neville, you should keep your nose out of it before you end up hurt. You do remember last time don't you?" James felt Neville stiffen against his back and heard him gulp in fear before he grunted an affirmative, "Good, now shut up." He heard Neville laugh lightly behind him once he knew that the threat wasn't serious.

"What happened before?" Tracey asked, excited to hear the story.

James was getting ready to tell the story, still with his eyes closed, enjoying the feeling of the sun on his body and the slight wind in his face. He found himself silently congratulating himself on a job well done, he should have known it wouldn't be that easy to get away from Daphne's razor intellect.

"Hold up. Nice try, but I'm still waiting to hear about these people you used to take orders from." Daphne quickly brought the focus back to her suspicions, not willing to let it go.

James sighed again, this time deeper, suffering obvious to everyone, "Fine. You win Daphne. There is no way they can order us to do anything anymore because they aren't alive anymore."

Gasps abounded from the assembled witches, even Neville gasped, but it was more in exasperation than anything else. Daphne didn't wait to continue questioning, "Why are they dead?"

"Because I killed them when they ordered me to kill innocents." James stated coldly, turning his burning vision on Daphne, showing her the pain he felt at what he had done.

"Sure, it was because you're a monster that enjoys killing." Daphne snarked back, dumping Tracey unceremoniously on the ground when she got up and stomped off.

James watched her go, trying no to let his instincts control him. He sat still as stone on his rock, not even a hair shifted in the wind. Neville could sense the change in his commander and friend, he knew this wouldn't be something that James wanted anyone else to see.

Neville jumped to his feet, "Alright everyone, story time is over. We need to leave." He was trying to usher everyone along, but only Luna seemed to be listening. Everyone else appeared to be ranging from righteous anger to shock to fear. Actually everyone, except Luna again, was showing a goodly amount of fear, along with the shock or anger. It was Tracey that Neville was most worried about, she looked like she was about to attack James, which isn't a good idea when his instincts are so close to the surface.

Neville had everyone moving away from James, giving him some space when it happened. Tracey was walking at the back of the pack, but still following back to the castle. Neville was so focused on how James was coping with his instincts that he didn't notice the violent change in how Tracey was feeling. He felt Tracey's angry feeling enter the area around James and stumbled in surprise, thinking _'How did she get all the way over there without me even noticing that she left?'_

 **\- RFC -**

Tracey could see that James still hadn't moved a single millimetre from where he was before, but she could see that he was as tense, like a tightly wound spring. What she didn't realize is that when someone was tightly wound, it didn't take much to set them off.

"Well you are a coward. I thought you cared about Daph, but here you are, wallowing in self pity like the loser you are." She through out her best Slytherin sneer, filled to the brim with contempt for the man in front of her. She was sure that he was different, but here he was, proving that men were gutless pigs, just looking to get in their knickers.

She still had the sneer firmly in place when her vision became a blur for a fraction of a second then came to rest with James' face and shoulders with the sky and clouds as a back drop. She heard a _crack_ that seemed to come from right beside her ear. She jerkily moved her head from the glowing green eyes to see what the hell had made that sound. She really didn't like what she saw there.

James had buried his arm up to the middle of his bicep. Tracey had been told that James was scary strong when Daphne was talking about him when she came back from Canada. She could only assume that James had gotten stronger in the interim, this seemed to be proof that Daphne wasn't just blowing smoke. It would have been far less impressive if he hadn't spun her around and held her on top of the rock he used to be sitting on. No matter who you are, punching your arm into a boulder is impressive.

"Tracey, I'm going to warn you once, and only once, do not aggravate me when I'm stone still. It does not usually end well. You were lucky this time." With that James pulled his arm out and strode away, not into the castle, but along the edge of the Black Lake and into the Forbidden Forest.

Tracey was still staring into the sky in shock. She couldn't believe what had just happened, she had literally almost died, she was sure of it. Then she started thinking, _'If he was such a bad person, a killer and a pig, would he have pulled his punch? Or would he have just killed me and disappeared?'_ She had already decided to give him a chance early, but this just reaffirmed her decision, even with that little lapse just now.

 **\- RFC -**

Daphne had taken the long way back to the castle in the hopes of burning off a little of her anger. Fortunately for her it worked quite well and now all she could feel was a vague emptiness and a little bit of regret for running out like that. She was too stubborn to go back and apologize, but she still wanted to. After all she knew James well enough to know that he wasn't some heartless killer, she would just have to talk to him when he came back to their chambers tonight.

She was just mounting the steps when her plans all went to hell.

"You know he was actually looking forward to just being James Clay for once." Neville announced his presence by making Daphne feel terrible.

"What do you mean?" She knew what he meant, but was hoping for something else.

"Ever since he was taken to the Academy he hasn't been able to be just a regular guy. He's a Warrior Born and a prodigy with his Element. Even before he was at the Academy he was never normal, he was treated like a slave at his relative's home for thirteen years, then he was a celebrity here at Hogwarts for something he couldn't even remember." Neville answered a lot more thoroughly than he originally intended, but Daphne needed to know.

"Oh, how terrible, always being treated like he was a god among men. It must have scarred him something fierce." There was the old fall back, biting sarcasm.

"I doubt very much that you want to be hailed as a hero and have your every action scrutinized and every flaw callously pointed out and attacked. It isn't the way I would want to live. You should think more about what some people have lived through before you start judging them." With that Neville walked into the castle, leaving Daphne to think on the steps.

Daphne had just sat down when a dazed, pale, and shaky Tracey started up the steps, completely oblivious to Daphne sitting there. Daphne watched her carefully, wondering what had happened to make the normally bubbly and observant Tracey so quiet and inattentive. Daphne waited to be noticed, only to realize that she wouldn't be when Tracey was already level with her and hadn't even glanced at her.

"Trace? What happened?" Daphne grabbed Tracey's hand to get her to stop, only to see her flinch in response.

"Oh, uhh, well I got a front row view of some of what James is capable of. I doubt it was even a fraction of what he could actually do though." Tracey was starting come back to her usual self.

"Yes I really doubt that he showed you what he's capable of, you wouldn't have been capable of walking back here. Well, not until you woke up. Seeing his strength on display causes almost everyone to faint, the only people that haven't are the other Sins. Even they aren't stupid enough to mess with him, that's how strong he is and that was before he was a Sin. I can only imagine that he has gotten stronger since then." Daphne scoffed at the thought of anyone wanting to stand up to James, or even irritate him a little.

Tracey nodded and Daphne asked what she originally wanted to, "Where is James now then?"

"He ran into the Forbidden Forest. I wanted to follow him, but I couldn't get over my fear." Tracey sighed, embarrassed for herself over her fear.

"Don't worry about it, he will be the most dangerous thing in those woods right now. I know that I really pissed him off with what I said. Knowing what I know about James, I should have known better than to say those things about him. I know that he isn't some heartless killer or someone that even likes killing." Daphne frowned, knowing that she needed to go and track James down.

She just couldn't figure out where to start. All she really wanted to do was to go into the castle and wait for James, but she couldn't do that, she needed to go into the forest and find him. Knowing him he would be in the deepest, most dangerous part of the damn place. Daphne scowled, there was no way this was going to be pleasant for her.

With her path decided, she stomped off to the rock that they were gathered around earlier, expecting him to enter the forest at the closest point from there. She wasn't surprised to find the once solid expanse of stone fallen into several pieces and a pile of hard packed rock dust sitting in the middle of the epicenter of the fracture.

She didn't pause long enough to wonder about why he would do that to the poor stone. He could fix it later if he really wanted to, she might even bully him into it, just because she could. Moving on, she tromped into the woods where the trees looked like they had moved out of the way of something, creating a roughly man-sized path.

' _Well this will be easy, if the Forest made a path for him then I will be able to follow it all the way to him.'_ Daphne thought.

Daphne trekked through the woods for what felt like hours, but was probably closer to twenty minutes before anything more exciting than buzzing bugs noticed her. Unfortunately, it wasn't something fluffy and nice, like a unicorn, no, it was an acromantula. A spider the size of Hagrid's pet hound, Fang, seemed to appear out of nowhere, right in front of her.

Daphne let out a scream that would put any horror actress to shame. It rang out shrill, high, and long. The enormous spider scuttled back, rubbing two hairy legs over the sides of it's head, trying to block out the awful racket that the girl in front of it was making.

The terrible screeching lasted longer than anyone would expect a person's lungs to hold out for, but they gave out eventually and the spider surged towards it's soon-to-be meal. It was close enough to taste the fear that it's dinner came off when a flash of black fur brought it up short. More startled than anything, the spider looked down on the small black lynx.

The lynx looked directly at the spider with glowing emerald eyes, hoping to force it's will upon the forest creature, but acromantula are magical creatures and are almost impossible to dominate. Without opening his full power in this form, the lynx couldn't hope to force the spider to obey it's will. With that option out, the lynx let a feline grin spread across it's face, thoroughly scaring the young girl behind it.

The lynx turned its head and _winked_ at Daphne before turning to face the confused spider head on. There was no way the spider would hold back for long, even after feeling the weight of its will. So before it could attack them both, thanking whatever giant spiders thank, for a second helping of it's evening meal, the lynx stood itself on it's hind legs and when it fell forward on the forelegs of a black bear the size of Hagrid's hut.

Daphne gaped at her saviour, what kind of shapeshifter could pull a change of that magnitude off in such a little amount of time. It wasn't until the bear had let out a roar that shook the ground and surrounding trees with it's power, forcing the spider to run off, that Daphne figured out what kind of shapeshifter it was. It was an Earth Elemental, specifically the one she was looking for.

"Change back, you ass. I want to talk to you." Daphne tried to act like the Ice Queen that she used to be.

James let out a rumbling growl that sounded suspiciously like laughter. His form seemed to ripple like water and without any discernable changing, James stood where there was once a bear. It wasn't noticeable as a bear, but now James' smirk was on full display.

Daphne looked up at him from where she had apparently fallen while backing away from the acromantula. That smirk was infuriating and she would wipe it from his face with her scathing intellect. She opened her mouth to deliver her own personal brand of tongue lashing, only to be interrupted by James.

"I knew that you were a big fan of bright colors, but I never expected you to wear bright pink lace." He pointedly glanced down at Daphne's waist, where her skirt was bunched up.

Daphne squeaked, rolling forward to settle on her knees and gripping the hem of her skirt with both hands to pull it down as far as she could. Her cheeks were glowing red with embarrassment, even though she was embarrassed she also couldn't help the flair of arousal that ripped through her at the sight of the desire in James' eyes. He quickly smothered that desire though, Daphne's face fell a little at that, but she knew it wasn't because she wasn't attractive, it was because he refused to lose control of his own instincts.

"Yes, well sometimes I like to dress up a little. It makes a girl feel more confident and sexy to dress like this under her regular clothes." Daphne explained haughtily, which was impressive considering her current blush.

"That doesn't really seem like a good idea when your skirt is loose enough to fly up at the smallest breath of wind." James said, skeptically raising an eyebrow.

"Yes, alright, I'll give you that one. I could have planned that a little better, but it doesn't mean that the reasoning behind it isn't valid."

"I never said it was. I've managed to burn off most of my anger from earlier, but you still aren't at the top of my favourite people list. Why are you out here? And how can I get you to leave?" James went from smiling to stone faced in the blink of an eye.

"I came to apologize. I know you better than to think that you're some kind of heartless killer. I wanted to let you know that I know I was wrong and that I'm really sorry about saying all the stuff I did." Daphne finished, avoiding eye contact.

"I accept your apology, but you need to get out of here. I have some more things I need to do in the Forest to get ready for the ritual in a couple weeks." James forcibly turned her towards the outer edge of the Forest.

"What? Can't you use some help? I want to show you how sorry I am." Daphne dug in her heels, trying to stop him from shooing her away.

"You don't need to show me how sorry you are. You came into the most dangerous forest on the continent to say your sorry. I'm well aware of how sorry you are. However, there is no way that you can help me with this, I need to make a clearing and start inscribing the circle. Unfortunately, that is not something you're capable of helping with and I would rather not have to constantly be on the watch for your safety." James and Daphne were now at the edge of the Forbidden Forest.

Daphne looked around, then down at her feet. She frowned, she hadn't moved her feet, but here she was, hundreds of meters from where she and James started talking. She turned and looked at back at James, who smirked down at her before nodding at the moss under their feet. That explained it. He somehow convinced the moss to move them while he had her distracted.

"Alright, fine. Is there anything I should tell the others?" Daphne pouted.

"Don't pout." He laughed, "If anyone asks I should be back shortly before curfew. If I'm not, then I'll see you all in the morning at breakfast." James went to re-enter the forest.

"Wait." Daphne grabbed his arm, "Tracey had nightmares, I doubt she'll work up the courage to talk to you about it, so I'll ask for her. Can you maybe sleep next to her? I help keep them at bay, but my presence isn't quite enough to do it indefinitely. Your presence makes a girl feel so safe that I'm sure you'll be able to pretty much stop them." She was babbling, and begging, but she would do anything to help Tracey.

"You don't need to beg. I didn't even need an explanation, all you had to do was ask, but you need to tell her about your plan. I'm not going to force this on her or even do it if she's even remotely unsure about it." Daphne nodded gravely, "Good. I'll make sure I'm back an hour before curfew then. Just in case we have to do some discussing." Daphne let go of James and he disappeared into the Forbidden Forest once again, not to be seen until that night.

 **\- RFC -**

"Susan!" Susan turned to see who called her name, the voice sounded familiar, but she wasn't wanting to take any chances.

"Oh, hey, Daphne. What's up?" She paused long enough to let the dark haired, ex-Slytherin catch up.

Daphne hurried up to Susan's side. Marveling at how close they had gotten in the last twenty-four hours. It wasn't more than a day ago that if Daphne had run up behind Susan like that, that she would have put her back to a wall and drawn her wand. Now, she stopped and waited for her to catch up, with a smile on her face, no less. It actually made her feel warm inside, which was something she had only felt near James before.

"I went and found James," She held up her hand before Susan could cut in, "He is trying to set up the ritual circle for us, apparently it's a little more involved than he originally led us to believe. He said he'll be back an hour before curfew."

"Well, that leaves us the rest of the day to do whatever we want then doesn't it?" Susan smiled at Daphne.

"Yes, yes it does. Should we go get the others then?" Daphne grinned back, wondering if now was the time to pull that prank off.

 **\- RFC -**

James was nearly as exhausted as he had ever been before. It took a lot of pull to get that much silver to the surface, especially on a silver-poor island. _'Why couldn't I have been able to use copper? There's so much of that crap here'_ He lamented to himself.

James had managed to finish the entire circle, and with time to spare luckily. It was a good thing too, he stunk and was desperate for a shower. He wasn't deliberately avoiding people, but he wasn't making an effort to be seen either. It was nice to not be goggled at while he was walking, as he would be, being covered in dirt and little flecks of silver.

Deciding to avoid the common room, James used the back entrance to his chambers. It used a secret door hidden behind a bust of Rowena Ravenclaw that was twenty feet from the regular entrance to the common room.

The private common room for his chambers was empty, but he did hear voices coming from both Luna's room and Hermione's. He couldn't hear exactly what was being said, but he could tell the gist of it and he wanted no part of those girly situations. If he had to pick a colour to describe it he would definitely pick pink, like fluorescent, sparkly pink.

He snuck by and into his own rooms, where his lovely shower was.

It wasn't more than half an hour later that he stepped out and dried himself off. Standing in front of the mirror he looked at himself in wonder. No more than four years ago, he was a scrawny, beat up, street urchin look-a-like. Now, he stood tall and proud, with an Olympian physique and confidence that he never thought he would have. It did come with responsibility, but that's to be expected, after all, the strong should strive to protect the innocent.

James laughed at himself, why should he think about how he used to be. That is all in the past now, it helped shape who he is today, but that's all a negative past really meant to him. He didn't have time to dawdle, he needed to talk to Daphne and Tracey. After what was sure to be a really awkward conversation, he needed to get some sleep.

He wasn't really paying much attention to his clothes when he was putting them on, he was far to focused on what Tracey would have to say to his proposal. He couldn't very well be on hand to deal with her nightmares when they were sleeping in different rooms. James' plans were to get Tracey to sleep in his bed, while he slept on a mattress on the floor.

It wasn't until he went to button the shirt that he noticed something was off. It was far too tight across his chest. James was surprised he could even get them to button, they were stretched to their absolute limits. James knew that all his shirts fit this morning, so something happened between now and then, so someone either shrunk them all, or the elves got his laundry messed up. Elves messing up like that was the next best thing to impossible, so he decided that it must be a prank.

Even his T-shirts were shrunk down, which was a piss off because some of those shirts had some serious sentimental value. At least four of them were completely irreplaceable, he would get the elves to reverse the charms, but someone was going to pay for this.

He gave up on trying to find a shirt that fit quite quickly and stomped into the common room, shirtless, wearing only a pair of jeans.

"Everyone out here now!" James thundered, making sure everyone could hear him even if they had privacy charms up.

When the girls all came out, white faced and shaking, well except Luna, James had to re-evaluate his decision to make someone pay. There was no way he could actually do anything to these girls, not even if they were responsible for his shirts being shrunk.

"I don't care who did it, but whoever messed with my shirts needs to fix it immediately. I don't even need to know how it was done or anything, it just needs to be fixed." He tried to keep his voice in control and he was successful. Controlling his magic was much harder and he was far less successful with that.

Everyone could feel his magic snapping and cracking. It was frightening that James was capable of producing such a powerful aura. It was nearly impossible for normal witches and wizards to even produce a visible aura. James was doing it while he was obviously straining to hold it back. Tracey and Hermione both ran into his room and shut the door with a slam. They came out five minutes later, both saying that his shirts were fixed.

"Thanks ladies, I don't need one tonight though. I need to talk to Daphne and Tracey then I'm going to bed. I'm bloody exhausted." James said, flopping down on a chair.

Hermione and Susan both looked at the other girls, trying to gauge if they were okay being left alone with what was a very angry man only moments ago. Daphne knew James the best so she nodded at the concerned pair, James had already burned out his anger and wouldn't be back to his usual self by now. Susan reluctantly nodded and forced Hermione to turn around and go to her room before going to her own and shutting the door with one last meaningful look at Daphne.

"Well, Daphne, did you have a chance to talk to Tracey about what we discussed earlier?" James asked as soon as they were alone.

"Yes we have discussed it. Tracey has only three things that she said must happen." Daphne gestured to Tracey.

Tracey stuttered a little at that, she was expecting Daphne to relay her demands for her. Eventually she got her embarrassment and surprise under control. "Alright. Number one, you will keep your hands to yourself, unless you're given express permission." James nodded, that one was expected, "Number two, both of us will be wearing clothes and keeping the door unlocked." Another nod, he also expected that one, "And finally, number three, if anything untoward does happen I will not be blamed for any damages to you or your possessions." Tracey was much more confident by the end of her demands, it helped that he nodded along and agreed to all of them without batting an eye.

"That all sounds quite fair. However, I wasn't really planning on sleeping in the same bed as you. I was going to make up a mattress on the floor. That way I wouldn't be sleeping in your bed, but I would be on hand if anything happened." James said.

"No, that won't work. You'll have to sleep in the same bed at least. Tracey needs at least a little bit of companionship for the night. You don't necessarily need to touch her or anything, but you do need to be closer than laying on the floor." Daphne cut in before Tracey could agree. She knew that the safe feeling would still be there if she wasn't right beside him, but was plotting to make Tracey see the benefits of being involved with James.

Daphne very much wanted to be involved with James, but she couldn't just leave Tracey. Tracey was her first love and her current lover, she wouldn't leave her for James, no matter how much she would be tempted. Loyalty might not be something that Slytherin was known for, but it was something that her mother and father instilled in her at an early age and she would die before she forgot what her parents taught her.

"Are you sure?" James was skeptical, he knew that Daphne was up to something, but he couldn't quite put his finger on it. "It doesn't really sound like it would really work that way."

"Yes, I'm sure. That is just one of the weird quirks of this lovely lady here." She threw her arm around Tracey's shoulders and gave her a side hug. "Alright, anything else you need to talk about James?" She waited for half a breath, "No? Good, I'm tired. Night Trace."

Daphne used the arm around her lover to turn her so they were face to face. Without missing a beat, she bent forward and pressed a quick, but loving kiss to Tracey's lips. Tracey didn't react at first, but it didn't take more than a couple seconds for her to respond in kind, deepening the kiss. The love and passion was clear to James, who was struggling to control himself in the face of two of the most beautiful girls he knew kissing each other with fiery passion.

James saw Tracey's tongue dart out and lick along Daphne's lips, asking entrance. It was then that he cleared his throat, loudly. He didn't want this to progress any further, mostly because he was exhausted, but a little was because he wasn't sure he could hold back from trying to join in.

Daphne and Tracey both sprung apart like scolded children. Tracey with a fierce blush and Daphne with a light dusting of pink and a Cheshire grin, obviously pleased with herself. That, and the reaction that was completely visible at the front of James' pants, even his nipples were hard. It made Daphne squirm a little, knowing that doing one of her favourite things could turn James on that much. It was really empowering.

"Well, now that I need another shower, a cold one, I bid you goodnight Daphne." He returned to his room, looking back when he was halfway through the door, "Tracey, you coming?"

Tracey glared and James, then at Daphne before grumbling something under her breath. Daphne didn't quite hear her and James snickered under his breath a little. Daphne heard the snickering, which prompted her to shoot a questioning glance at James.

"She said 'I was going to be, but you had to butt in.'" James laughed at Tracey's expense, who was glowing red in either anger or embarrassment. Based on the renewed glare James would bet money on anger.

Daphne tried to hold her laughter in, she really did, but she couldn't manage. Her laugher burst passed her lips, deep from the depths of her stomach. She laughed herself to a seat on the floor and James had flopped back onto the chair instead of sitting on the floor with her. Tracey threw out some more angry glares before stomping into James' room and slamming the door on the laughing duo.

"Is there actually anything else that you need to tell me Daphne?" James asked after he caught his breath.

"Well, yeah. If she has a nightmare she needs to be held. She might freak out a little, but she'll settle down after a little bit and just cuddle until she falls asleep again. Other than that, I would suggest not touching her until you want to wake her up. To do that just double tap her shoulder until she wakes, it's the safe method we developed in the Slytherin dorms." Daphne finished with a yawn.

James stood up, seeing that Daphne was ridiculously tired, he decided he had kept her up more than long enough. He held out a hand to help her up. She daintily placed her hand in his and he reveled in the feeling of her soft, silky skin in his hand.

Daphne was most of the way to standing when suddenly her legs were swept out from under her and she started to fall back to the floor. She braced for the impact that was sure to hurt her tailbone, but it never came. When she opened her eyes she was staring at the side of James' face and she could feel the rough callous' on his hand lightly scraping along the sides of her knee.

Daphne let a small, true smile grace her face and relaxed back into the strong arms of James. He was very much a gentleman, but things like this didn't often happen, even while they were dating. James' instincts had to be going crazy at this point, but he was still caring her in his arms to bed. Either he had gotten much better control or he was more willing to risk letting his instincts take over with Daphne, both of those were exciting to her, very different kinds of excitement and for very different reasons.

James didn't say anything as he dropped Daphne on her bed, he didn't even tuck her in like she wanted him to, but she knew why he didn't. She could see the tightness in his face, the tension in his neck, and the way he held his shoulders. He must have been barely holding back, which was a little bit disappointing. Daphne really didn't want him to hold back, but she knew that he wouldn't let anything happen until she gave him the go ahead. Even if she begged him to ravish her, he would say no, since he had a previous commitment to Tracey. It was both immensely frustrating and intensely endearing.

Daphne sighed in disappointment, this would be the first time in a long time that she would have to take care of her own needs before bedtime. It was worth it though if her plan worked out. She let out another deep sigh as she worked her hands down inside the shorts she wore as pajamas tonight. Just a quick session and then bed. If she ever thought back on that time she would never be able to remember if she was thinking about Tracey, James, or both of them together.

 **\- RFC -**

James took a few seconds outside of his room to center himself again. He was far too close to losing himself while he was carrying Daphne to bed. It was a bad idea, he knew that, but he just couldn't help it. She looked like she was damn near falling asleep sitting there on the floor. The feeling of her skin on his was something that he could never get enough of either. It was like the softest silk, it was warm and sexy and very attractive.

Once he was fully under control, James walked into his room to try and talk to Tracey a little before they went to bed. He had to smile when he saw her, sprawled across the as much of the huge bed as she could cover. He moved over to her and carefully, without actually touching her, pulled the blankets out from under her and laid them gently on top of her.

With Tracey all cuddled up underneath his blankets, James got dressed in a pair of pajama pants and a plain white t-shirt. He usually would only wear a pair of athletic shorts, but not when a female would be sharing his room. He crawled into the bed opposite Tracey and laid on his back staring at the canopy of the bed, thinking about the action packed day he had. He didn't get very far through his thoughts on the day before his eyes closed without his permission and he fell into a deep sleep.

What felt like minutes later, James woke to the violent thrashing and screaming that Tracey had suddenly started doing. Unfortunately for James, in the heat of the moment he forgot what Daphne had told him and he sprung into action. He landed on top of Tracey and pinned her arms and legs down to the bed, effectively stopping her thrashing.

The screaming stopped rather abruptly too. Being pinned by James woke Tracey as sure as a siren would have. She started to scream again, having flashbacks to the Slytherin common room. Before she could get another deep breath James did the only thing he could think of to make sure she didn't scream again. He dropped his face down right in front of Tracey and kissed her.

It snapped Tracey out of her attack as surely as water is wet. Her eyes snapped open, just to drift closed as she fell into the kiss. It wasn't a passionate kiss like Tracey shared with Daphne before, it was softer and more emotional, following such an awful thing as her nightmare, but it was no less enjoyable for Tracey.

Tracey was thoroughly enjoying her post-nightmare kiss. Once she was more aware of what was going on she realised that Daphne's lips were really rough. She would have to talk to her about drinking enough water throughout the day. It didn't take long for Tracey to wake up more when she started to really get into it and was ready to take this to the next step.

Tracey went to push her hands up Daphne's shirt, to tweak her nipples and massage her breasts just like she liked. Tracey's hands made it just into the shirt when she felt the rippling muscles and rough skin of, someone that wasn't Daphne. She pulled back, pushed on the stranger's chest, and inhaled a deep breath to let out a scream for help. Only when she saw James' face did she pause, letting out the breath in a little squeak.

Her shock passed a lot quicker than James had expected, and she sucked in another deep breath to scream, in rage this time. Hoping to avoid a panicking Tracey, James sat up so that he wasn't pinning her arms anymore and she had a lot more room between his face and hers. It turned out to be a mistake though because it showed her his obvious arousal that his pajama pants did next to nothing to hide.

With that Tracey's face surpassed red and moved into a puce-like colour. She whipped her wand out from somewhere that James didn't quite see and shoved it against his chest, expecting him to back off once he saw the wand drawn on him. The only thing was, he didn't back off, if anything he leaned into her thrust.

It shocked Tracey again, all the way into inaction. Which was lucky for James because it would have been a reducto right to the chest, it wouldn't have killed him like most people, but it wouldn't have been a whole lot of fun.

"Sorry Tracey, it was the only way I could think of to stop your screaming. My hands were already busy holding down your arms. You can hurt me in the morning, I'm exhausted." James explained to her.

Tracey couldn't get her shit together fast enough to come back to that. James had already flopped onto his back where he was sleeping before and was completely asleep in less than the time it took for Tracey to scrape together a coherent response. She was staring down at him, wondering how she was going to get her revenge on both him and Daphne. Him for what he did and Daphne for forcing her into this situation.

Tracey would never admit that she had really enjoyed her kiss with James, but her lips were still tingling and she could still feel the desire that was flooding her body, and panties. She had felt that safety that Daphne was talking about though, but only when she was touching him. She looked over at the sleeping man, wondering whether she should go to her own bed or stay here and just cast a body bind on him.

Eventually she came to the conclusion that she didn't want to disappoint Daphne by not even giving her idea a full night's trial. Well, that and she was as exhausted as James looked. She quickly debated with herself on how she was going to go back to sleep. On her side, or should she cuddle up to James and give this trial the best chance of being successful?

Her decision was taken out of her hands though, her eyes started to droop and she knew that she wouldn't be able to get to her room, even if she wanted to. She fell forward onto James chest, decided it was comfortable and curled up into his side. She threw one leg over his and an arm over his chest, then she let her head slide down into the crook of his shoulder. She instantly felt warm and safe when his arm instinctually curled around her and held her tight to his side.

It was a most comfortable way to sleep and Tracey was quite happy with it until the morning.

 **A/N: I still don't have a beta, if anyone could either offer or has someone that they could recommend, I would appreciate it.**


	7. Chapter 7

**Disclaimer: I do not own any characters or anything else from the wonderful mind of JKR.**

 **I appreciate any constructive criticism or suggestions. Any purely negative and/or degrading comments/reviews will be ignored. Thanks.**

Tracey was woken by being tossed across the bed lightly. She sat up, ready to give whoever threw her like that a piece of her mind. She wasn't much of a morning person, so the bastard wasn't going to like what was about to happen to them. Her words died before they passed her lips though, because she could see James suspended sideways above the bed.

His eyes were what she noticed first, aside from the obvious, since they were slowly bleeding back to normal from the forest green of his Elemental eyes. After they were back to his normal eyes Tracey looked at what was going on, she was sure that nothing serious was going to happen if he let his power drain away like that.

Her eyes roamed over James' body as it was suspended by tendrils grown from the posts of the four poster. She may have claimed to be only interested in girls, but anyone that was close enough to her knew better. She still found a lot of guys that she met attractive, but she would never be able to be with most of them because they were only interested in her body. James was definitely an impressive specimen of manly-ness and thinking about him always got her blood pumping.

Tracey's eyes eventually wandered past the chiseled chest and washboard abs, down to the weird triangular muscles that she had never seen before that seemed to be pointing towards his crotch. It wasn't until then that she froze, her eyes glued to the crotch of his pants. There was a rather large tent in the fabric there. She felt a shot of desire shoot straight into the depths of her own crotch at the impressive sight, but it shocked her mind so much that she couldn't even think about it.

Surprisingly she found herself wondering what had happened to his shirt. She remembered her face being pressed against it when she fell asleep on top of him. She took a quick glance around James' torso, where she saw little scraps of white cotton held down by the little vines spread across his body. Tracey wasn't some airhead, well not all the time at least, she quickly put two and two together. The vines must have ripped through the shirt to hold directly onto him, rather than give him the possibility of wriggling out of the shirt.

The shock passed quite quickly and Tracey thought that she should see what's going on. "What the hell is going on James?" She didn't sound upset, but she didn't sound all that happy at what had just happened to wake her up.

"Well this is rather embarrassing. I didn't want this to be necessary, but I'm still glad that I planned far enough ahead for this." James explained, but didn't actually explain anything of real consequence.

"Nice try, but I'm not gullible enough to let that weak explanation by." Tracey smiled at him, his chagrin warmed the cockles of her heart.

"Ugh, fine. I set the four poster up to restrain me if my instincts got control, or my level of lust jumped while I was asleep." James let out a deep suffering sigh, reluctant to admit that he lost control like that.

"Alright. Based on your eyes I would say you lost control of your instincts, right?" James nodded in response, "Alright, well do they have you completely restrained? Like could you break out if you wanted to?" Tracey asked.

"Well if I tried really seriously I could break out pretty easily, but I wouldn't do that unless there was a serious threat to all the students here." James had a thoughtful expression on his face.

"So, nothing your instincts could do will be able to break that if they take over?"

Tracey's questions were getting very specific now and James was getting a little worried, but answered anyways, "Not unless there was a serious danger to my own life. That's the only way my instincts could hijack my full power, the survival instinct is a powerful one after all." James really didn't like the fire that was stoked to life behind Tracey's eyes at that admission.

"Good. I'm not going to let an opportunity like this slip by then." She told James, sitting up on her knees.

Tracey shuffled forward on her knees, thanking Morganna that she ran into a situation that was perfect for a little no strings attached experimentation. She was so happy that she wasn't one of those people that were always shy, once she decided to do something, she did it. She reached out when she got close enough and pulled the waist band of his pants down to his knees.

 **\- Citrus warning - (Skip to the next break if you don't want to read it.)**

James was staring at Tracey and what she was doing, he was shocked into immobility for a few brief seconds. It didn't last that long though, he quickly started struggling, trying to get away from Tracey's exploring hands.

Her hands were tracing across the muscles of his thighs. It tickled in the best kind of way, but James couldn't think about that right now. He tried his hardest to think unsexy thoughts. Unfortunately, it wouldn't work with a beautiful girl like Tracey stroking his legs, slowly moving closer and closer to the root of his problem.

Tracey was absolutely fascinated by what she saw. She had never seen a man's penis up close like this, but she found her reaction to it completely confusing. Her mouth had started watering a little, she was fighting the desire to stick her tongue out and taste James' cock. Penis just didn't quite sound right to her when she was thinking of it like that. The wetness between her thighs had never quite gone away from the night before and now it was increasing at an astonishing rate.

James was trying to focus on not thinking about what Tracey was doing. He found himself thinking more about what Daphne was going to do to him if, when, she heard about this. Tracey was taking advantage of him, but he was sure that Daphne wouldn't see it that way and she would attack him as soon as she heard. It wasn't looking good for him. He was a gentleman and would refuse to fight back against Daphne in that situation. Sure, he would defend himself, but eventually one of her attacks would get through and that would really suck.

Tracey was stroking James' arousal now. It was crazy. It was both silky soft, like Daphne's skin, and hard at the same time. She loved to watch the way the skin and veins moved and reacted to her slow up and down movements. Tracey could still feel mouth watering, but this time she didn't manage to hold back her tongue when it flickered out to lick her lips.

Tracey leaned forward, getting her face as close to James' cock as she could without it actually touching her face. The head of it was spongy and soft, but she didn't really want to feel it on her face at this moment. She stuck her tongue out and gave it a quick taste, reveling in the way his entire body twitched to thrust himself closer to her mouth. The power she held over James just by holding onto this small part of him was intoxicating, even if it wasn't that small, actually, based on what she knew, it was huge.

Tracey ignored what James was mumbling to her, she was far too focused on what she was doing. Her tongue flicked out again, this time to lick up the underside of his cock, all the way from his balls to the tip of his head. The thrust this time was much more pronounced, so much so that James managed to get the head of his cock inside Tracey's mouth when she closed it.

Tracey's first reaction was to open her mouth and let his cock free. She didn't feel the disgust she expected to feel when she had it in her mouth though, if anything she felt more empowered than before. Deciding that she actually liked the feeling of James' cock in her mouth she wanted to try 'sucking cock' like she had heard some other girls talking about. She had gotten even more information on it from Daphne when she came back from Canada, where she had access to all sorts of dirty magazines and the internet, which was a wealth of knowledge.

She slowly pushed her head down James' shaft, licking lightly along the sensitive underside the whole way. She didn't make it farther than three quarters of the way down before she started gagging and backed off. The magazines had told her what to do after she found that spot, so she wrapped her hand around his shaft at that point, or at least most of it since her hand was too small to wrap all the way around it's thickness.

Then Tracey started to bob her head up and down, paying special attention to where the head met the shaft, another gem from the magazine. It was proving to be a very useful resource. James was moaning and groaning every time she tickled that spot with the tip of her tongue and when she laved the whole head with the flat of her tongue. She was really starting to get into it, her hand pumping what couldn't fit in her mouth, an area that was getting smaller every down stroke of her head. Minutes later, she was getting really adventurous, tickling the hole with the tip of her tongue and really enjoying the slightly salty taste of the clear fluid that she noticed earlier, but was really flowing now.

Shortly after that she heard James let out a deep grunt and start thrusting into her face, which she thought she would hate because it was taking away from her control, but she loved that she made him lose control enough to do that when he was obviously holding back the rest of the time. She heard him say something to her, but she was still running on the high from her power over him and ignored whatever he said. She was enjoying it so much that her other hand had slipped inside her sleepwear to run her swollen clit that was covered entirely in the river of honey that was flowing from her pussy, she had literally never been this aroused and wet before, she just knew that when she got off she was going completely soak her clothes and probably the bedding below her.

She felt James' cock throb in her mouth and it stirred some knowledge from her research with Daphne, James was going to come. She wasn't sure if she wanted to taste it. On one hand, if it was anything like the clear fluid from before, she would love the taste. On the other, she had heard that it was always bitter and awful. Soon it didn't matter though, because she didn't stop her ministrations while she was thinking it over and the throbbing increased in tempo. It was seconds after that, that James' first shot fired into the back of her throat hard enough to make her gag, all the shots after that though landed on her tongue because she pulled back so that just the head was in her mouth. She found that she loved the taste of James' stuff and savoured the taste on her tongue as she pulled her mouth off of his completely spent cock. It was starting to deflate, until he could see her rolling his cum around in her mouth before pushing it all to the back of her mouth and audibly swallowing it all, not wasting a single drop.

"That was incredible Trace." James gasped out passed his panting breaths, then he noticed her hand down the front of her bottoms, "Did you want me to return the favour now?"

Tracey looked over at him with a glazed look in her eyes, it cleared somewhat when she answered, "No, I finished when you did." She pulled her hand from her pants to show the sticky honey that coated it all the way to her wrist.

She pointed down to the puddle that her wetness and climax had caused on his bed and soaked all the way through her bottoms. It was impressive, James didn't know that one girl could be that wet. Then he groaned when she raised her hand to her mouth and licked off ever bit of honey from her palm and then sucked her fingers into her mouth to make sure she got it all off. His previously flagging cock quickly sprung back to attention.

 **\- Citrus End -**

As soon as he started to think this might go further, James was rudely brought back to the real world. His release was enough for his instincts to take a back seat again, as soon as his bed frame sensed his instincts receding it did exactly what he had instructed it to do. It dumped him unceremoniously on the floor. He landed bare ass straight down on the cold stone floor of his room, yelping at the contact and jumping up as fast as he could.

Tracey was laughing heartily at the misfortune that had befallen him, she eventually was able to speak, "A little chilly down there this morning?" She snickered at James' answering scowl.

"Yes, a little damp too." He smiled at the blush that bloomed onto her face.

"Think you can handle the clean up? I'm no good at cleaning, especially without being able to use my element. I'll grab a quick shower, wash off the recent sweat, then you can shower for as long as you want. I'm fairly certain that my shower is nicer than the other ones." James offered as a compromise for her cleaning up.

"That sounds fair, I'm in a really good mood after that orgasm, might even want to do it again sometime, if you're really lucky." Tracey smiled, not a smirk or anything else, just a nice smile.

It was a first for James to see an expression like that on Tracey's face. It made her face seem softer, more feminine, and changed her looks from cute and sexy to radiant and beautiful. James found himself smiling in response and wanting to do something nice for her.

James took his shower in record time, just giving himself a once over with his loofa and body wash before getting out, he didn't even really get his hair wet. Someone had once told him that it was bad for his hair to wash it every day with shampoo and stuff, not that it really mattered because his body automatically restored it to it's healthiest, but he tried not to make extra work for it when he could.

Stepping out of the shower, James waved his hand and a warm wind blew through the bathroom, drying him instantly. He knew that the house elves would likely deliver a new towel for Tracey if he used his, but didn't want to take the chance and just avoided using the one they already provided.

Tracey was waiting next to the door, wearing one of his larger t-shirts. She was holding onto her magically dried underwear and pajamas, meaning that she was wearing absolutely nothing underneath his shirt. That realization led to James crotch rousing itself slightly from it's satiated slumber, but before he could focus on that thought and let his crotch fully wake, he decided what he wanted to do in return for Tracey's earlier actions.

"How about you throw those clothes in the hamper and I'll go to Daphne and get you some new clothes for the day?" He asked, hands held out, waiting for her wad of clothes.

Tracey narrowed her eyes at him, "You won't keep my panties for yourself to brag to other guys about?"

James quickly adopted a hurt look, "You think I would actually do something like that?" Tracey's look never waivered, so he continued, "Alright. I wouldn't do that, even if it had crossed my mind before you said it, which it hadn't. Besides the only guy I know here is Neville and he would probably be as upset about it as you would be. He is all about propriety."

Tracey could sense the sincerity in James' voice, but still was reluctant to hand over her underwear. Her reasoning was that she didn't want him to see that she had worn sexy underwear to bed, just in case. Her mind quickly pointed out that he had likely seen them already through her white pajama pants after she had soaked them in her juices. She had to fight down a light blush and a rush of desire at that thought, but her center still moistened a little at the thought.

She noticed James' nose twitch right before she handed over her underwear and had the strange thought _'I wonder if he can smell when a woman is aroused?'_ She laughed to herself at such a ludicrous thought, but the thought just wouldn't go away. She was still thinking on it as she was closing the door behind her, but was drawn out of her thoughts by James' voice.

"Oh, and Trace." He waited until she was looking him directly in the eyes before finishing, "I'll wait until you ask me to keep your panties." He winked at her as he stepped out of the room before she could get her wand up and fire a spell off.

Tracey flared an absolutely gorgeous shade of pink that even she found attractive when she looked in the mirror. It wasn't anger like she expected it to be, it was shyness, she could actually see her doing that now. It was a strange thought, giving her panties to James, but she couldn't honestly say that it wasn't an arousing one. _'Before that happens, he'll have to make me completely black out from pleasure though.'_ She thought to herself, figuring that he wouldn't be able to do it and her deal with herself would keep all her panties in her possession.

With that thought she climbed into the absolutely fantastic shower. James was right, it was better than the one in hers and Daphne's room. This one even had a detachable shower head. Tracey's eyes brightened and her smile widened when she realized she could test something else that she had read in those magazines Daphne brought back. James did say that she could take as long as she liked and she would like to take care of her arousal before she was around him again or she knew that she would do something that she probably wouldn't regret doing, but didn't want to be doing so soon after meeting him.

 **\- RFC -**

James was in fine spirits this morning. Not only because of what had happened after he and Tracey were woken up so abruptly, but because Tracey only had one nightmare last night and seemed to sleep much deeper and more sound after she had cuddled into him. He found himself wondering if she would like to join him again, he found that he liked sleeping with someone else in the bed, even if nothing like this morning were to happen again, he knew that he slept better with someone else present now. He had thought that it was just a fluke when Luna stayed with him.

Pushing those thoughts off into the recesses of his mind for later pondering, James walked over to Daphne's door and put his ear to it to see if she was awake. Luckily it sounded like she was, as he could hear her hard breathing on the other side of the door.

With his thoughts so recently on what he and Tracey had done, James' first thought was that she was having a little morning destressing session. Alas, the sound was far too close to the ground to be that though, unless she was in the habit of masturbating on the cold stone floor, which he doubted.

Daphne was doing her morning exercises as it turned out, because her face was all red and sweaty when she answered her door after James' knock. That in itself wasn't what told him that she was doing her morning exercises thought. The part that really gave it away was the fact that she was wearing a green and silver sports bra with a pair of loose black sweats and running shoes on her feet.

"You know that it's Sunday, right? That means rest day, no working out." James asked, eyebrow lowering from where it had raised to upon seeing her in her workout clothes. Her stomach was unbelievably taut and showing just a slight definition in her abs, which was one of the sexiest things James had ever seen.

"I know, but I skipped yesterday after all the drama of the day before. Not that there was any less yesterday, but I knew that I couldn't just not do the workout because of that." Daphne smirked as she saw his eyes wander down her figure again. "Anyway, what would you like? It's not like you to be social this early in the morning."

James' eyes snapped back to Daphne's face, feeling no remorse at getting caught ogling her tight and toned body. "Right. I need a change of clothes for Tracey." He tried not to let it all rush out of his mouth like he was guilty of something, but he was only partially able to do it.

Daphne's smirk disappeared, "Usually you would be afraid of your instincts getting control if you ogled me like that, which means that your instincts are unusually sated this morning. What happened to make Tracey need new clothes, and why are you asking for them? What did you do to Tracey?!"

Daphne was getting mad by the end because of where her mind was going. She knew James wouldn't force anything on Tracey, but she loved her and love isn't a rational emotion. Daphne's love for Tracey pushed her mind into all sorts of scenarios revolving around James taking advantage of a helpless Tracey and she started to panic before she felt James' calloused hand drop down on her shoulder.

"Calm down Daphne. It was more about what Tracey did to me, but that's for her to tell you if she wants to. I expect you not to pressure her about it." James' voice was soothing, but Daphne couldn't miss the command and implied threat that was imbued into the last sentence and she knew without a doubt that she would follow that command, not wanting to risk the consequences.

Daphne opened her mouth to say something, but James cut her off, "I know you have more questions, but I'm not going to answer them for you. Now, can I please get some clothes for Tracey? Something casual and comfy, I doubt that we are going to be leaving the common room today."

Daphne nodded mechanically, mind still coming up with pictures of Tracey tied to the bed naked with James standing over top of her. The difference was that now it was turning her on. Her arousal only increased when she was suddenly the one standing over Tracey, then again when James was back, but she was the one tied down. Her pussy completely flooded with desire when she imagined being tied on all fours, Tracey lining up a strap-on to plunge into her waiting cunt and James lubing up his cock before pressing it into her virgin rosebud.

Daphne shook herself from those thoughts when James cleared his throat from the door to her room. _'Where the hell did that come from?'_ She thought to herself as she gathered a loose, almost see through white maxi skirt and purple tank top for Tracey to lounge in today, along with lacy white boy shorts and matching bra that both had white silk bows, one above her mound and one between her breasts. Before she turned back to give James the clothes she thought _'I don't know, but it bears some more thinking on in the shower. Thank god I learned that vibration charm last year.'_

Daphne handed the clothes to James, careful to hide the underwear between the skirt and shirt, knowing that Tracey would only want James to see if she was the one showing him, likely while she was wearing them, if she wanted him to see them at all. James nodded a thanks to her and she noticed his nose twitching while he did. Her thoughts unknowingly echoed Tracey's from minutes earlier _'Can he somehow smell a woman's arousal?'_ before shunting it aside in favour of her new, exciting, and very confusing, fantasy.

 **\- RFC -**

James quickly moved back into his room, carrying Tracey's clothes for the day, or at least some that she could get back to her room in if she didn't like them. He could still hear the shower running so he knocked on the door and waited for an answer.

When no answer was forthcoming he stuck his head in and took a quick glance to make sure Tracey was still in the shower. Luckily she was, so he just flopped her clothes on top of the counter.

Then he raised his voice, "Trace! I left your clothes on the counter here. When you're done everyone that's up will probably be in the common room."

With his bit said he closed the door and left to go sit on the comfortable couches outside. He came out to find everyone except Luna sitting and talking there. That was surprising to him since Luna was picked on by the rest of the house, but she was definitely smart enough to do what she wanted. Hopefully his threat would be enough to keep her safe.

He needn't have worried though, as Luna stepped through the door to the Ravenclaw common room, leading a blushing Padma Patil. James saw the other girls cock their heads in confusion, letting him know that this was an unexpected arrival.

It was Hermione that asked the question on everyone's mind, "Luna, why did you bring Padma here? Not that we have anything against you Padma."

Luna had almost completely dropped her strange mannerisms, but her voice was still strangely airy. "She wanted to ask James some questions and I wanted to thank her for all she's done for me under the radar and making sure the whole school knew that we were under your protection." She stated matter-of-factly.

"Luna, did you thank her by snogging her?" It was Susan that asked this time.

Padma's blush intensified, which was impressive since she was fairly dark skinned this close to summer, but she still nodded in response to Susan's question. Luna nodded vigorously, grinning happily, flicking her tongue out to taste Padma on her lips. Padma raised her fingers to feel the pleasant swollen feeling of her lips.

Well that was something that nobody expected, but at the same time, nobody was really all that surprised about it either. Both Hermione and Daphne shook their heads in exasperation, while Susan and James just let out a sigh, rubbing their foreheads. It was then that Tracey walked out of James' room, getting shocked looks from everyone except James and Daphne.

Tracey had just made to sit down when Daphne grabbed her hand and said, "Sorry Tracey, but we have to talk about something in private. Right now." She tacked on when she saw that Tracey was about to object.

Tracey sighed and let herself be led to the room she shared with Daphne. She was resigned to going over what happened with James this morning. James would have had to give some kind of explanation to get the clothes out of her, especially because it was one of her favourite lazing around outfit. Once she had put it on, she thought that she should be wearing a shorter skirt. How would she tease James with such a long skirt?

That thought brought Tracey up short. Since when had she wanted to tease any guy, let alone the one that Daphne, and several others, had their eyes on. Even if Daphne only wanted to get close to him for protection and that ritual that he promised to do for them all. That's what Daphne told her that she wanted to be close to James for, but she could tell that she was interested in him in a less than platonic way. The problem Tracey was having was that she was starting to think of him in the same like that now too.

Tracey heard someone ask James what they needed to go talk about, but his answer was cut off by the sound of the door closing behind her.

James had shrugged off the question about why Daphne and Tracey were disappearing to talk. It wasn't his place to say anything about what happened this morning. The other girls, minus Luna and Padma would probably find out eventually, likely before the ritual, but it wasn't something that he had the ability to talk about.

He brushed off their questions one more time before forcibly moving the conversation away from that, "What are our plans for today then?" James was well aware of the fact that most of the girls now knew that he was a killer, but it didn't seem much like their thoughts had moved from where they were before finding out.

Hermione had just started to answer when James decided he didn't want to wait to find out how they thought of him now. "Sorry Hermione, I know I asked, but I can't wait to ask this." He took a deep, calming breathe before asking, "What do you guys think of me? Now that you know some of what I've done."

Hermione looked upset at first, but after hearing his question she quickly calmed down. Looking around at the other girls she realized that she wasn't the only one that spent a lot of time last night thinking about what James had revealed to them. She could also tell that the others weren't ready to talk about what conclusion they had come to yet. They obviously had come to the same one that she had though. That no matter what James had done, or would do in the future, he was still a good man and she wouldn't hold what he had done against him. Hermione wasn't completely decided yet, but she was sure that she would hang around until some questions were answered.

"Well I can't say that I'm happy to hear that you have killed in the past, but I'm not going to hold it against you. You haven't killed any innocents have you?" She blurted out the last bit, not originally planning on being that blunt.

"No, our original commanders were smarter than that, they knew that most of us would refuse and end up rebelling against them. The one's that tried to order me to kill innocents had some how usurped their power and thought that I wouldn't fight back if I was alone. They were wrong, they were also wrong about the kind of power that I could wield and the huge discrepancy between their power and mine." James explained.

"Alright, then I'm alright with you. I usually get a bad feeling when I'm around bad people and I'm not getting any kind of negative feelings from being around you." ' _Unless you count constantly horny as a negative feeling. Which I am starting to think might be the case.'_ She thought to herself, glad that she didn't blurt that one out.

Her admission prompted nods from everyone else, Padma excluded since she didn't know what the hell was going on. Susan and Luna both said "Couldn't have said it better myself." Even if Luna didn't quite sound as sincere about it, as if she could say it better.

"Thank you." James quietly choked out past the lump in his throat. He didn't know how scared he was that they would reject him, until he knew that they weren't going to.

There was a little bit of an awkward pause where everyone waited for James to get his composure back. Then there was the confusion for Padma, she had literally no idea what was going on right now, but she wasn't going to worry too much about it. She was just happy for Luna to finally see her crush.

"I knew about your crush for a long time you know, but I didn't want to make you into more of a target. That's why I never let you know that I knew what you felt for me and that I felt the same way in return." Luna mentioned offhandedly to the dark skinned girl sitting beside her.

Padma's mouth dropped open in shock, completely unable to answer that. Once her mind restarted enough to answer she realized that she hadn't said anything like that out loud. "Luna can you read minds?" She whispered to the petite blonde next to her.

"Not really, sometimes the humdingers tell me what others around me are thinking, but only if it's related to me. It's not usually nice things like that though." She answered just as quietly as she was asked.

Susan and Hermione had moved to sit on the same couch as James, directly across from Luna and her new girlfriend. Now they were just staring at the two in complete disbelief. How could they just sit there and talk between themselves when there were others there to talk to, it seemed more than a little rude. Then again, Luna wasn't really one to care much about if she was being rude to anyone, nobody else had ever really cared what she did or said before.

"I guess it might be a private matter, we probably shouldn't pry." Susan said to the other two.

"Yea you're probably right. Do you guys want to do anything else today? We have class tomorrow so it's kind of our last day of summer." Hermione asked, hoping that someone would ask her. That way she could get everyone to study.

"Well I think we should probably do a little bit of studying to get ready for the classes. I would really like to just relax a little today." Susan gave exactly the answer Hermione was looking for, which was ridiculously attractive to her. Nothing was more of a turn on than someone that was willing to take their studies seriously, as long as they would take a break long enough to study her body.

"That sounds pretty great, but I don't particularly want to study though. Can I just work out while you guys do some studying? If you really want you can read out loud and I'll listen." James offered up hopefully.

"Seeing as I'm more than a little sure that you don't really need to be at this school, I think that it's okay." Hermione reluctantly admitted.

"Wow Hermione, that must have been hard for you to admit." Daphne piped up from the other side of the couch.

Hermione and Susan both whipped around to look at Tracey and Daphne. Both were still sporting blushes from whatever they were talking about in their room. Tracey was sporting a new skirt, or at least shortened the one she was wearing before, and it seemed to be on a little crooked. Daphne's pants were still unbuttoned and her shirt wasn't pulled down all the way on one side. Both were breathing a little heavy as well. Obviously whatever they were talking about led to some other activities taking place behind closed doors.

 **\- RFC -**

James and the girls, minus Padma and Luna, were down by the Black Lake again. It was quickly becoming a favourite spot of theirs. James was shirtless, much to the distraction of the girls, and doing push ups with Daphne sitting on his back while she read quietly to him.

Hermione was doing better than both Susan and Tracey with her studying, but she still wasn't getting as much done as she wanted to. She was sure that if Daphne wasn't hiding the way James muscles moved on his back, she wouldn't have gotten any work done and would have been staring at him the whole time.

Tracey and Susan were both sitting around the front side of James and were getting absolutely no studying done. They weren't even making an attempt at making seem like they were studying anymore. Both had closed their books in favour of watching James work his muscles. They were completely captivated by the way his arms swelled and twisted as lifted his chest from the ground, giving them a good look at the way his chest grew taught every time he reached his full extension.

Daphne was smart enough to avoid most of the chance to ogle by offering herself up as extra weight when James started to do just push ups. There would be no chance to stare at his bare torso from above him. She did have a very good view at his impressive posterior, but one could only stare at it for so long before it got old, well when it wasn't really moving at least.

James was starting to slow down, it was getting hard to lift both his upper body and Daphne's entire body. He hadn't counted his push ups in a couple of years, now he just went until he couldn't go any longer and he was about to reach that point. With some of the last of his strength he braced himself on one arm and reached up with the other to pat Daphne's back.

They hadn't discussed the signal before hand, but Daphne knew what he wanted immediately. She didn't want to just roll off him like as if she was only a weight. So, she coiled her legs up under her, planting her feet on James' shoulder blades, and waited for him to get both his hands planted again.

She heard James sigh when he realized what she was planning on doing. It made her smile that James knew her well enough to know what she was planning. She felt his body tense and she knew that she could do it now. She grinned as she explosively extended her legs and launched herself into the air over top of James, turning a neat back flip and landing almost perfectly.

Unfortunately for both James and Daphne, she landed with both feet directly on top of his hands. It didn't cause James too much actual pain, but it definitely surprised him. He yelped and pulled both of his hands back as fast as he could. Then Daphne yelped when she was suddenly falling on her ass because her floor was yanked out from under her.

Tracey and Susan were surprised, but not so surprised that they didn't laugh at the look on Daphne's face when she fell on her well shaped back side. It quickly went from wide eyed surprise to the face of someone that is trying their hardest to hold in laughter. Unfortunately, she wasn't quite able to hold it in when James shot her a pained look, shaking his hands like they were burnt. The best part was that she could see her foot prints on the back of his hand. While she wasn't happy that her cool dismount got messed up, it was hilarious at least.

Hermione wasn't sure what the hell just happened. She knew Daphne was graceful, but that kind of thing is more than graceful. Nobody who is just graceful can backflip off of another human being like that, even if the other person was likely as solid as a concrete block.

"Daphne, where did you learn to do stuff like that?" Hermione asked.

"It's part of what we learn at the Academy. It's actually something that only certain people are taught, most of them of the female variety. People like James learn different things." She wasn't really all that happy that her dismount was ruined, it would have been so much more impressive if she landed properly.

"Why would James learn something different?" Hermione was interested now. She had closed her text book without even keeping her finger in to mark her page.

"James isn't flexible enough, his body is too rigid to pull off the things that we're taught. What he gets taught is a lot more, uhhh, forceful." Daphne looked like that still wasn't the right word.

"I think I get it, could you put it another way for me? Just to make sure I've got it right." Hermione looked to James, expecting him to be much better at explaining it.

"Alright. Have you read any Avenger's comics?" Hermione nodded and James smiled, he had the perfect way to explain it. "So what they train me in is more like the Hulk. Charge straight it and smash everything in my path, I'm also trained similar to the kind that Thor would have, but with the power of Earth instead of lightning. With me so far?"

"Mostly, what do you mean training like Thor though?" Hermione was leaning forward, an excited gleam in her eye.

"I mean fighting with weapons and that kind of stuff. Using my power to augment my ability with my weapon or just using the weapon to direct my power. Get it better now?" James smiled at the excitement written all over her face.

"Yes, but your hammer was much larger, so it obviously wouldn't be quite the same style." Hermione reasoned out.

"No, but I can also use other weapons, like I'm sure Thor would be able to. He was raised by the Allfather after all. Anyways, Daphne is trained more like Black Widow. Her training is more about dodging and redirection of her opponent's strength."

"Oh I get it now. It's probably like jujutsu then." Hermione mumbled to herself.

"Yes that is a pretty good way to explain it, but that's only a little bit of it. Daphne would have gotten a lot more than just jujutsu. It's hard to explain past that though." James sat back and rubbed the back of his head with a sheepish smile.

"Alright, I think I get it pretty well. Can you guys teach some of it to us?" Hermione asked hopefully.

"Well I can teach you a little bit of how to fight with a weapon, but my physical style isn't something that I can offer you. Your body wouldn't be able to handle even the conditioning, let alone the actual combat of it." James looked to Daphne, thinking she would be willing to teach as well.

"Don't look at me like that James. I was never that proficient. I can teach maybe the basics, but nothing further than that." Daphne tried to hide her smile at the happy look on both Hermione and James' faces.

"Thank you!" Hermione shouted, launching herself into Daphne, effectively tackling her down to the ground and locking her in one of her patented super hugs. The kind that will squeeze the life out of you, but fill you with the feeling of unstoppable love.

Daphne also got a "Thank you!" each from Susan and Tracey, who rightfully assumed that they would be trained as well. Eventually Daphne managed to pry Hermione off of her with a display of the cunning that landed her in Slytherin. She pointed out that James was standing in all his sweat-soaked glory and Hermione quickly forgot about her need to hug Daphne in favour of ogling the Adonis that was standing in front of her.

James was a well rounded individual so he didn't crave attention, but when it was offered, he felt it would be rude to ignore it. With that flimsy excuse in mind he stretched his body in ways that made is arms and back flex, but didn't do any actual after workout stretching. He heard most of the girls behind him gasp appreciatively, only Daphne gave a deep suffering sigh, only she knew that he wasn't helping himself at all, just showing off.

James dove into the lake to cool off and maybe wash a little bit of the sweat off. Alright, mostly to wash the stink off without having to walk all the way up to their rooms to shower, he was hungry damnit and he didn't want to wait any longer than necessary for lunch. After that he was planning on forcing an afternoon nap on the girls, he could see how tired they were after such a full day yesterday, especially Hermione. Even after the infusion he gave her, she still wasn't capable of being so high energy two days in a row.

 **\- RFC -**

It wasn't much later that James and the girls were sitting at the Ravenclaw table. James trying his best to eat with proper manners and everything, but he was so hungry that he wasn't really doing a good job. He was still eating even when everyone else had stopped in shock and was looking towards the doors.

James didn't stop eating until Daphne dug a sharp elbow into his ribs. He rounded on her to give her a talking to, but was stopped when she grabbed his chin and pointed his face towards the person standing in the doorway. She was large, not Hagrid large, but still larger than anyone probably should be. She had orange hair, a red looking face, her wand in one hand, and a wooden spoon in another.

The important part was that she was leading in what looked like to be the entire auror force. They had all stopped to look at the sheets of paper they were holding, then looked around at the student body. They repeated it as they walked up the aisles between the tables, looking for someone it appeared.

James sighed, knowing that it would be him they were looking for he stood and walked up to the nearest auror. "I think it's me you're looking for."

The auror looked up in surprise. Her hair went from plain old mousy brown to bright pink, which was impressive. She opened her mouth to say something, but quickly shut it and looked down at the paper in her hands, then back up at the man in front of her.

"Yeah, you match the description. If you could come with me, I would greatly appreciate it." She held up what was sure to be an enchanted rope.

"I will come with you, but not with anything even approaching a binding. Besides, you've been following me and my friends around all day, you must know that, that weak of a binding rope will never be able to hold me." With that said James walked passed the auror and towards the doors, where more aurors were waiting with their wands out and pointing at him.

"How? How did you know it was me? I didn't look the same for more than an hour all day." The still pink haired auror hurried after him.

"Your scent. You didn't change the way you smelled and just changing your body won't change it enough so that someone like me won't know it's you." James explained, enjoying helping the auror with her disguises.

"Seriously? You are some kind of a weirdo aren't you?" She deadpanned, pleased that she had that explained to her, but still freaked out that her scent was what gave her away.

"Yeah, I suppose I am. Not that you're one to talk. Metamorphmagi could be called weirdo's too. You could literally change your body into any kind of body you want, and you choose a flat chested tom boy with no hips. I get that it's very much a boy's club in the Auror Corps, but that would just make it more impressive that a beautiful woman made it as high as you have." James shot over his shoulder at her, since she started to slow down at his first words.

' _Honestly,_ _who admits to being a weirdo? It's not like it's a good thing to be, is it?'_ She thought, staring at his back. She was glad that she was a metamorphagus, she could literally remove her ability to smile. An auror shouldn't ever smile like she wanted to at an suspects words. It just wasn't professional to do. She didn't notice that she was upping the size of her bust and hips until she felt her clothes getting tight, eliciting a small, surprised smile from her.

The auror's smile disappeared rather quickly, then she caught what he said at the end. Then they were standing in front of the rest of her contingent and the surprise written all over her face was something that caused more than a few puzzled expressions on her coworkers faces. Specifically, a tall black man with gold hoops in his ears, who she waved off, knowing that he would understand it meant later.

James lifted his hands to brush his long hair back over his shoulder. It was one of the few time that his long hair was out of it's tail, but it just wouldn't dry properly if he tied it back before it was completely dry. Unfortunately, this brought to attention the fact that his hands were not tied behind his back like they were supposed to be.

It was then that the large, orange haired woman decided to speak up, "WHY IS THIS CRIMINAL NOT RESTRAINED?!" She screeched at the large black man, totally ignoring the auror who escorted James.

"Molly, calm down. He isn't restrained because he came willingly. It's policy not to cuff anybody that comes along willingly." The still pink haired auror ground out as civilly as she could manage. Apparently she didn't like being ignored.

"I DON'T CARE WHAT POLICY IS! HE ATTACKED MY SON!" Molly continued screeching at the dark skinned man.

"Listen, Molly, was it?" James didn't wait for an answer, "I'm not only far stronger than I look and more than capable of breaking pretty much every restraint these aurors have with them, but I'm also the Lord of to Ancient and Noble Houses. It wouldn't be very smart for them to try and restrain me on the charges you bring against me."

"What?" All the aurors had basically the same reaction, but the pink haired auror's was the best. She blanched and started to stutter, obviously trying to apologize, but not quite being able to talk properly.

"Oh I forgot one other little thing. I'm also acting in the role of an ambassador while I'm here in Magical England."

"Well, shit." Came the rather succinct response from the tall dark man. "Sorry sir, but we're still going to have to take you in. Molly here would like to charge you with all sorts of things, chief among them is the assault of her youngest son, Ronald."

"Ah, yes. I would be more than willing to give you my memory of the event, however I am only going to give it to Madame Bones." James said in his haughtiest voice, playing up the Lord angle.

"I think that could be arranged. My name is Kingsley Shacklebolt, I'll escort you to Director Bones." Kingsley announced in his deep baritone, holding his hand out.

James took his hand and squeezed, hard, before backing off to just match the pressure that Kingsley was exerting. He saw the look of shock cross his face, but then confusion followed and James knew that he got the timing perfectly. It was fast enough to make Kingsley question if he had imagined it or not.

"James Clay. It's a pleasure to meet you Auror Shacklebolt. I only have one more condition though, all the people currently under my protection here at school needs to come with us. It wouldn't do for me to leave them alone this soon after the beginning of our relationship. I don't think it has quite stuck with the less than sterling people here." James looked Kingsley dead in the eyes, letting him know that there was no compromise on this point.

"That can also be arranged." Kingsley was sweating a little under the unflinching stare of the young Lord in front of him. Kingsley was one of the best in the Auror Department, both in power and skill, but he wasn't completely sure that he could take James in if he decided to be less than willing to come along. Hell, he wasn't even sure if all the aurors there could bring him down. That was how dangerous his eyes were.

"Good." He turned back to the pink haired auror, "Looking much better, miss?" He paused, leaving space for her to give him her name.

"Tonks, Nymphadora Tonks, but don't ever call me Nymphadora, or else." She supplied, using her metamorph power to keep the blush of her face at the intense look on his face and the compliment. His intensity was insanely attractive, so was his protective nature that was obvious from his last condition. She didn't need anyone to protect her, but the thought of someone wanting to do whatever he could to protect her was more than a little intoxicating to her.

"Well, Miss Tonks, if you would care to escort me back over to the table most of them are there. I just have to stop at Gryffindor on the way over and talk to a friend there."

"Sure, I think I can handle that." Tonks flashed him a megawatt smile that made his knees weak.

James wasn't sure that he would be able to form a coherent sentence after that, so he smiled in return and walked off to the Gryffindor table to talk to Neville before moving on to where the girls were sitting.

He had a quick, but heated conversation with Susan and Hermione, surprisingly Daphne and Tracey were more than willing to come along. This would completely cement the fact that they were under the protection of a seriously powerful Lord, hopefully that would extend to the rest of their family too.

Eventually James either convinced or out-stubborned Susan and Hermione and they got up to leave with him. While those four followed James out with the aurors and a subdued, mercifully quiet Molly Weasley, both Luna and Padma got up and went to sit by Neville Longbottom.

Neville quietly acknowledged the two of them without taking his eyes off of Astoria Greengrass. James had trusted him in the protection of everyone that wouldn't be coming with him. Fortunately, he could quite easily keep an eye on everyone, except Astoria. He needed to get a message to her, let her know to stay somewhere visible until James and her sister were back at Hogwarts.

 **\- RFC -**

James and company were marched through the DMLE office, the large escort probably caused a lot of questions and commotion, but they were passed before any of that broke out. Kingsley knocked once at the office that had a plaque that read 'Director Bones' on it. It wasn't more than a second after his knock that a definitely female voice called out, allowing them entry.

"Boss, we brought the suspect in the Weasley assault, but there are some issues with his arrest, like I said in my Patronus message." Kingsley explained quickly.

"Yes, so what are these complications?" Amelia Bones asked, looking rather intimidating with her fingers steepled in front of her face, like the villain in a TV show.

"Well first he's a Lord and second, he's ridiculously powerful." Kingsley was straight and to the point.

"How exactly do you know how powerful he is?" She had perked up at that, this was going to be interesting.

"He apparated all of us into the entrance of the Ministry."

"How many people are we talking about here?" Sirius had told her that his Godson was powerful, but he completely understated it apparently. She was sure that he was overstating his power, too.

"The entire contingent we sent, plus the four ladies with him, and Molly Weasley." Kingsley couldn't quite contain the awe that coloured his voice, but he did good enough that only Tonks, Madame Bones, and James heard it. The two former felt their eyes widen at the awe, while the former just rolled his eyes, it wasn't that big of a deal after all.

"Well that is impressive. So why did he agree to come in if he's this powerful?" Amelia asked.

"I think I can answer that Auntie." Susan stepped to the front of the small group that continued into the office.

"Oh Susan, it's nice to see you, but shouldn't you be at Hogwarts?" Amelia was genuinely pleased to see her niece, but wasn't sure why she was here.

"James has found something sinister happening at Hogwarts, I was one of the people targeted and has basically announced that I'm under his protection. He refused to leave the school unless I accompanied him."

Amelia could tell that Susan was less than pleased with this turn of events, but more because she lost the argument than anything else. She could also tell by the way Susan was looking at James, that she was more than a little interested in him. It made her smile to see Susan finally acting like a teenager.

"Well that is understandable. We'll talk about this sinister thing sometime soon, but first why did he agree to come in?" Amelia was back to all business.

"He wanted to give his memory directly to the most trustworthy person he knew of in the DMLE. That's probably the only reason I let him bring me along. The others followed for the same reason as I did." Susan explained.

"Well, I'm sure that we'd all like to get back to what we were doing before this whole situation." With that said Amelia moved back to a display case behind her desk and removed a pensieve and set it on her desk.

James moved forward, put his finger to his temple and pulled out a memory strand, causing more than one gasp, and dropped it into the pensieve. Then he stepped back and motioned for Amelia to go ahead. She nodded and pulled her hair back before dipping her head inside, along with Kingsley and Tonks.

Minutes later they all stood straight. Then they talked amongst each other quietly, causing Molly to twitch since they weren't arresting the person who attacked her baby. She was moments away from yelling at them to arrest the monster when they all stepped back from their impromptu huddle.

"Alright. Can we keep this memory as evidence?" She asked James. Completely ignoring the put-out look on Molly's face.

"Of course Madame Bones. It's not really one of the ones that I want to hold on to all that badly." James answered graciously.

"Good. In that case I want Ronald watched twenty-four seven until he is well enough to stand trial. Kingsley take Tonks and Dawlish." Amelia knew that Kingsley was well aware of Tonks' other assignment and would let her roam free.

"Then we will start the trial of Ronald Weasley for assault, conspiracy to commit rape, and attempted rape." Amelia was dead serious, completely in 'Head of the DMLE' mode. "Thank you James, for apprehending this criminal. We'll do what we can to make the charges on Draco stick as well, but I doubt we will manage it with who his Father is."

"I know. I can deal with Draco and Lucius in due time." James nodded, "But you're welcome."

Molly couldn't believe what she was hearing, it was so preposterous that she was here to see justice done and now her Baby was the one that would be standing trial. Molly was about to unload on that stupid bitch behind her desk when the events caught up with her and she fainted in shock.

"Someone get her out of here. I don't want to deal her when she wakes up." Amelia sighed. "Is that all?" She looked to James.

"I would like to talk about the lack of trial for Sirius Black, but I can already tell that you're working on that. We'll be off to Hogwarts now." James answered before making sure that everyone returning to Hogwarts were all touching each other.

Then he apparated them back to the gates of Hogwarts, completely blowing through the wards at the Ministry, leaving a shocked and exasperated Amelia Bones behind to deal with the alarms that were going off.


	8. Chapter 8

**Disclaimer: I do not own any characters or anything else from the wonderful mind of JKR.**

 **I appreciate any constructive criticism or suggestions. Any purely negative and/or degrading comments/reviews will be ignored. Thanks.**

 **Sorry about the delay in the update, I hope this chapter is good enough to make up for it.**

The group of aurors and students arrived back at the castle after the trek from the gate in a less than fine mood. It had started to rain at some point and James was either too tired or too much of a jerk to cast anything to keep the rain off of them. It caused more than a few glares to be directed to him.

Eventually, James had enough of the glares and said, "You know, I'm not going to do everything for you. You're all more than capable of casting your own rain repelling charm."

That earned him a few chagrined smiles, and a couple of shame-filled looks, and one booming baritone laugh, courtesy of Kingsley, who did cast a rain repelling charm on himself and Tonks. Dawlish looked miserable in all his rain soaked glory. That drew a smile from James. Dawlish was a little strange and had already raised a few flags with James.

His smile only got wider when he heard people whispering drying charms and warming charms when they thought he was out of earshot. He wasn't in the school for more than a minute when Headmaster Flitwick had tracked him down.

"Mr. Clay. If I could have a word." He called out in his squeaky voice, trying to project authority and failing miserably. James had been more intimidated by Chihuahua's at the dog park.

"Of course Headmaster." He turned to the rest of his friends, "I will see you guys later. Daphne is there anyway you can get in touch with your sister? I want to make sure that nothing happened in the couple hours that we were gone. Susan, same deal with Hannah?"

"Sure, is there anything else Master?" Daphne could out sarcasm any single mother of three, and it definitely showed.

"Dial back the attitude Daphne, I'm trying to make sure your sister is safe. If you'd like me to stop, feel free to let me know." James wasn't in the mood for snark, not when he was about to get questioned by a Headmaster that was at least a hundred years old, but still sounded like a third grade child.

Daphne's face immediately lost its superior smirk and she quickly adopted a contrite look. She knew what James was going out on a limb to protect her and her sister. She knew exactly what he was, but she still treated him more like a common boy that she had dealt with over the last four years. Not only was James one of the most powerful Lords in the English peerage, but she was also not even remotely in his league in terms of raw power.

Tracey had just opened her mouth to give James a thorough talking to when Daphne cut her off with a sharp glare before speaking, "I'm sorry James. I'll go check right away." Daphne grabbed Tracey and attempted to drag her away from James before she could shove her foot in her mouth and compounded James' ire.

Before she got more than three steps towards the dungeons, Daphne heard running footsteps coming towards them. Instead of just continuing on, like she would have when she was still the _Slytherin Ice_ _Queen,_ she stopped and waited, hoping it wasn't something bad, but she wasn't going to hold her breath.

"Wait Daphne, I have a feeling that this will have something to do with your sister. If it was anyone else, he would have handled it himself." Daphne's heart dropped into her stomach at those words, she knew that she shouldn't have left her sister alone at the school so soon.

Neville came running up from the entrance to the dungeons, not quite breathing hard, but still a little out of breath. The frown on his face didn't really bode well for anyone present. James told himself that there was no reason for him to get worked up right away, but he couldn't stop his power from building. That also didn't bode well for anyone.

Neville didn't take any time to catch his breath, "James, we have a problem. I can't find Astoria anywhere. It's been confirmed that she isn't in the Slytherin common room. I can't track her either." He tried to get it out evenly, but he did sound a little breathless.

"Of course you couldn't, unless she was crying, but not even the stupid Slytherin's of this school would be dumb enough to cart her off without stunning her." James snorted in disbelief, could he not have at least one day that went his way even a little. Then he remembered the morning and amended his thoughts accordingly.

James turned towards Headmaster Flitwick, "I'm sorry Headmaster, but there is an emergency that needs my attention as Lord Black and your authority comes second to my duties as a Head of House." He turned back to Neville, after getting a grudging nod from the short half-goblin. "It's not your fault Neville, I shouldn't have asked so much of you when you already have so much on your plate. I'm sorry for that."

Daphne was close to hysterics at this point, but was carefully holding it back. She was glad for the years of practice in holding her emotions back. She couldn't believe that her little sister was missing, likely abducted by some idiots that thought attacking her little sister would keep her in line. She would show them that attacking her family would bring on wrath the likes that they have never seen. Daphne promised herself that they would never make the mistake of trying to cow her again.

"Don't worry Daphne, I've got this." James showed that he was extremely capable of reading Daphne's mood. With that announcement James promptly sat down on the floor and crossed his legs in a meditation form.

He took a couple deep breaths through his nose before mumbling, "When the air forgets, the stone will always remember."

"Now Headmaster Flitwick, you'll get to feel a little bit of why I told you to be very careful with how you act towards James Clay." Neville smiled gently at his Headmaster.

To say that Filius Flitwick was ready to be thoroughly underwhelmed by the child sitting on the floor in front of him. He was an elder of is Goblin Clan and had the ear of the Goblin King. Ragnok held true power, this child couldn't impress him if he tried.

Then he felt a deep thrumming coming from the stones underneath his feet. It was almost like Hogwarts was talking, but it wasn't talking to him. It was impossible. How could a child like this pull an answer from the ancient stones of the castle? _'I don't know what this child is doing, but I'm going to get to the bottom of it.'_ Flitwick was deep in thought about what this could mean to the school and himself.

James standing up managed to pull Flitwick from his thoughts, "As always, the stone remembers." James said quietly to himself, but Filius heard him anyways with his sharp hearing. "Alright Neville, I've located them. I'll be going an retrieving Astoria. Headmaster Flitwick please notify Madam Pomfrey that she will likely be having a few more students joining Severus tonight."

James was no longer the student that he could control with his power as Headmaster, but he wasn't the English Lordling that he was expecting to see stand back up. No this was another facet of James Clay that likely wasn't seen very often, or at least nobody really wanted to talk about it if they did see it. This James was a monster. It reminded him of someone that he had seen in his King's court before, but he had never seen the other person's face, so he couldn't be sure if they were just similar or the same person.

"Please try not to do any permanent damage. They are still students after all and likely didn't know any better." Filius knew that he wouldn't be able to stop him from sending a message, so he tried to contain the damage at least.

"I will be sure to make it superficial for the first time offenders. Malfoy has overstepped his bounds with me too many times now, that's not even including the things he's gotten away with before I returned here." James stated while he bent his knees into a crouched and reached behind his back for something.

Everyone expected James to stand up and start running deeper into the castle, but he never was one to do what everyone expected. He jumped. Hard. A crater formed where he pushed off, it was a perfect circle and stopped right at the toes of Daphne, who had started to move towards James when he mentioned Malfoy. Nobody would be able to tell if the crater was only going to be that big, or if it stopped because that's where Daphne was standing.

Only Filius, Neville, and surprisingly, Hermione caught the quick flash of steel in his hands. The girls, minus Daphne, and Filius watched in horror as James approached the ceiling of the Entrance Hall, thinking he would smash into it and fall down to them again. Neville and Daphne knew better though. They knew that James had released a couple of the limits he had on his power. They were both familiar enough with his power that they could feel it rippling off of him, even if he was directing most of it down into the stones of the ancient castle.

James' jump was impressive and he made it all the way to the ceiling in less than a couple of blinks. Tracey and Hermione both drew their wands, prepared to catch him with magic, despite the weird feeling they felt coming off of them earlier. Tracey did notice a strange deja-vu feeling from it though, like she had felt it before. They're preparations were all for naught though, James' head reached the stone first and then something freaky, even for magic, happened. The stone rippled around James' form and he flew _through_ the cut stone ceiling of a castle that was older than any other that still stood.

"Why can't something about him make even a little sense?" Hermione released a sigh when she saw James completely ignore the known laws of both physics and magic.

That made everyone else laugh, including Headmaster Flitwick.

"Why don't you seem more upset that James just blew you off?" Susan looked at the diminutive half-goblin, expecting him to be a lot angrier about it.

"I finally remembered where I've felt his overwhelming power before. He was at the last Goblin Games. He was the first non-goblin to ever be awarded first place and the first to ever finish without at least crippling injuries." Filius answered.

"Yes he was. Do you know why he was the first human to do that? Or why your King allowed him to compete?" Neville asked with a reminiscing smile.

"No, why is it that my King allowed that? I must admit that it was something of a surprise, he wouldn't do that for anyone besides a full goblin friend."

"Well James is a goblin friend, a personal friend of Ragnok, as am I. That isn't the reason he was allowed though. He was allowed because he bet Ragnok that he could kill a dragon with his bare hands." Neville explained.

Filius let out a deep rumbling laugh that was completely at odds with his stature and normally squeaky voice. It almost sounded like one of the goblin warriors that guard the bank. Daphne tried to hold in her laughter and did a fair job of it, only letting out a small smile. Tracey, Susan and Hermione each let out their own giggles, but were too surprised by the Headmaster's disproportionate laugh to really get into it.

"I kind of thought it was weird that he didn't use any sort of weapon. Now that I know it does make a little sense, there was probably a lot of gold on the line." Flitwick laughed again, but in his normal voice this time.

"What was on the line was worth a lot of gold, but no actual gold was wagered. The loser had to forge a weapon for the winner. It's actually how James got one of his favourite weapons." Neville was starting to love seeing the shocked looks on everyone's faces, even Daphne's, who he thought would know more about James than she seemed to.

"Have I seen this weapon?" Filius got over his shock a lot quicker than expected. He must be starting to expect the unexpected whenever James was involved.

"I would imagine that you haven't. The only people that have seen it are myself and James, well the only people that are currently alive. Well, Ragnok has obviously seen it too since he made it, but I thought that you would have figured that out on your own." Neville got nervous when he saw the hungry looks on both Daphne and the Headmaster's face, nothing was worse than people that wanted information that he couldn't give. "Before you ask, no I will not tell you what it is, what it's made of, or even what he named it." He put on his most unforgiving look in hopes that they wouldn't pester him about it, then had to fight to hold back laughter at the crestfallen expressions.

James was running through the halls, following a trail that only he could sense in the ancient stones. He was running along a corridor when he realized that the trail was leading him to the classroom on the other side of the wall. After realizing that he decided that going for the shock factor would be definitely worth showing off a few of his powers to other people.

Astoria was not having a good day. First her sister takes off with that new guy. Even if he was drop dead gorgeous, she still didn't understand the appeal. As far as she knew, Daphne had never been interested in the male third of the species. It wasn't rare to find a witches witch these days, but it was rare to find one that was interested in wizards as well.

After she realized that her sister was gone, Astoria had decided that the best place for her would be the library. Nobody could attack her in the library, not if she sat in the sightline of Madam Pince at least. She knew that there was someone that her sister would have arranged to look out for her, but she didn't trust them, she barely trusted the protection guaranteed by the Ice Queen and her boy-toy.

Astoria never made it to the library though. She was only twenty feet from the doors to the library when she heard someone yell something vaguely spell-like from behind her. She whipped around, yanking her wand out and casting a shield spell in the blink of an eye.

Her mind didn't take long to figure out what it meant when she saw Gregory Goyle smiling dumbly into her shield. She rolled her eyes immediately after, before she even heard the voice that was undoubtedly Malfoy yell, "Stupefy!"

When she woke up, Astoria was laying on top of an old teacher's desk in what she assumed was an abandoned classroom in some out of the way corridor. She could move her head around, but the rest of her body remained completely unresponsive. A partial body bind curse then. Astoria didn't think Malfoy was that adept of a wizard. Turns out she was right to not think that, Theodore Knott moved into her line of sight with an infuriating smirk plastered on his face.

"Well isn't that fantastic. I suppose you guys are here to make an example of me." She glared at Theo.

"Of course, then everyone will know what it means to go against Draco, the Prince of Slytherin."

Theo let a lecherous grin grow on his face after his announcement. It was quickly wiped from his face by Astoria's laughter. It wasn't hysterical laughter of someone breaking, or even defeated laughter, no, this was scornful laughter.

"You think that he is the Prince of Slytherin? He is possibly the least Slytherin person I've ever met. He has absolutely no cunning and his only ambition is to run to his daddy every time something doesn't go his way. The only thing that makes him even remotely Slytherin is that his daddy licked the boots of a half-assed darklord that was beaten by a one-year-old in a crib." She managed to choke back her laughter long enough to get it all out before getting right back into her laughter.

Astoria couldn't believe that these idiots managed to outsmart her. She didn't think she would be able to live this down. Her sister would never let her forget, likely neither would Blaze Zabini. She was still laughing when a hand was plunged into his stomach. Making her gasp and attempt to hold her stomach, but she was still completely unable to move her body so she was left to try and force her breath back to normality with only her will power. It didn't work well, but it was all she could do.

She felt someone lift her head up and prop it on top of something that was ridiculously uncomfortable. Once she was able to look down her body she saw that her legs were open, propped up on separate desks, as wide as her body would allow. Her skirt was flipped up out of the way, but she could still see that the underwear she put on that morning were still there, thankfully.

It was then that she noticed the two dumb brutes that usually followed Malfoy around, they were standing on either side of the door, wands trained to attack anyone that came through. Her mind cataloged that fact while the majority of her focus was on the blonde haired idiot. He was standing between her legs, unbuckling his pants. She remembered what happened to her sister, apparently Malfoy doesn't learn. She just needed to think of a way for him to regret it this time, no one was coming for her.

Malfoy was in the process of dropping his pants when she caught something out of the corner of her eye. It looked almost like the stone of the wall was rippling. Astoria assumed that she was going more than a little crazy, stress can do that to you after all. Not a whole lot of things are more than stressful than literally watching your soon-to-be rapist undress.

She snapped her head to look where that slimy bastard, Theo, was standing when she heard a choking sound come from that direction. Astoria didn't see Theo though, she saw James Clay, of all the people that she hoped would show up, he was pretty low on the list. If she was being honest with herself the list was only about three people long, which was not nearly long enough if she intended to stay out of trouble.

She stared at him suspiciously, not being able to figure out why he would come for her. James did seem to be really into her sister, but that only meant that he was coming to save her to stay on her older sister's good side, probably in the hopes of getting a little action out of her. It was either that or he was hoping to add another girl to his little group. That made more sense to her, she knew that she was beautiful and that many guys would do just about any stupid thing for a pretty girl, she even used that to her advantage quite often. Astoria decided that that was the most likely reason for him being here, all guys were perverts after all.

Astoria let loose an impressive scowl at James, "Why the hell are you here?" She demanded of him, as if she wasn't totally immobilized on top of a desk.

James looked at her briefly, but looked away to focus on Malfoy's goons, who were trying to direct their wands at the intruder that somehow managed to get by them. It actually made Astoria a little angry that he just brushed her question off like that, not even giving her more than a couple seconds of consideration before moving on.

"Put your wands down and you won't be hurt." He spoke to the two pale apes, then when they hesitated he continued, "I know that your father's ordered you to do whatever Draco told you to do, but attacking me is something that will end up with you in the Hospital Wing. It won't be much fun either, just ask Ronald Weasley, I hear that re-growing all the bones in your lower body is very painful." His voice didn't even change while he was threatening them, it was like he didn't really care what they decided to do, either way they wouldn't be anymore than a slight inconvenience to him.

The two brutes appeared to be trying to make a decision, but it was too much for their already overtaxed minds and they decided to attack James anyways. They both launched some sort of pulsing, deep purple curse at where James was standing. He probably didn't even need to move based on where the curses impacted the wall, but James did move.

Astoria was watching him like a hawk when the curses were fired off. She knew that those two idiots weren't going to just leave, they weren't smart enough to do that. It was something that she was more than well aware of. She had thought that she would be able to see some of the power that her sister had gone on and on about in her letters during the summer that she was gone.

Astoria didn't get to see any of that power that her sister told her about though, not because he didn't show case any of that power, but because she literally _couldn't see_ when he moved. Astoria knew of a lot of rituals and spells that enhanced a person's body, but there was nothing out there that could make a person's body capable of moving like that.

As soon as he somehow disappeared from her line of sight, Astoria whipped her head around to look at the lumps of muscle on the other side of the room. There she found James standing over their unconscious forms, shaking his head.

"Well Draco, did you manage to find your wand in your robes yet? I didn't want you to say that I beat you because you didn't have your wand. I will make sure that everyone knows that you lost to me when you were at your best, your days of being the Prince of Slytherin are over after that. Not that you really were though, your father's money was what made everyone else listen to you. He even managed to threaten a large majority of families into making sure their children would follow you."

Malfoy's face showed the same surprise that Astoria knew was written all over her face. She knew that there was no way that his father wasn't involved, but she assumed that everyone else was so scared of what he could do to them that they made sure their kids knew the consequences of angering the older Malfoy. She didn't think that there were actual threats and bribes involved.

"You don't know what you're talking about. I am the Prince of Slytherin because I am the most powerful person in the whole house!" Malfoy's rage turned his normally pale face into a startling purple colour.

James looked at the now wand-wielding blonde, "Don't make me laugh Draco. Astoria over there has more power in her little toe than you've got in your entire body. The only power you have is a father that has both money and ill-gotten connections. Soon there won't even be that for you."

"You think that you can take down my father?!" Malfoy asked incredulously, "What could a bastard half-blood like you do to my father? You have no power here, even if you are a Lord and an Ambassador, there is no way you'll be able to touch my father." The purple blonde was laughing, only a small tinge of crazy creeping in.

"I won't have to do anything. After I beat the tar out of you and apply this," James held something up that Astoria couldn't see, but the look on Malfoy's face made her think that it was something bad. "After you're humiliated by a bastard like me, your stupid father will come after me through the proper channels for once. Then I will kill him for what he has done to this entire country, both during Voldemort's reign of terror and after."

"You think that you could beat my father?" Draco laughed at James again.

"I know I can beat your father, there is no way that he could beat me, even with all of his dark magic and the power increasing rituals." James hadn't even reacted at all to Malfoy's laughter and derision, it actually impressed Astoria, who was nearly as emotionless as her sister was.

James looked to be waiting for something, Astoria couldn't figure out what he was waiting for though. Luckily she wasn't left wondering long. Malfoy brought his wand to bear, rapidly firing off three nasty looking curses at James, which would all hit him. If there was one thing that Malfoy could brag about, it would be his casting speed and pinpoint accuracy, even if he did often sacrifice power for those two.

This time he wasn't just duelling in the corridor with some kid two years younger than him, or someone that was afraid to actually fight back in the Slytherin common room, which she now knew was likely because people were afraid for their families, bank accounts, and futures.

James smiled at Astoria before he disappeared again, this time she didn't even try to follow his movements. She felt something tap her forehead lightly. She jerked upright at the feeling, she didn't even think twice about how she felt her skirt flip down before that. She knew that James had somehow negated the spell that was holding her down.

Astoria fully expected to see Malfoy getting beaten to a bloody pulp. She was incredibly disappointed to see Malfoy laying on the floor, unconscious, with both his forearms bent at awkward angles, obviously broken. His wand was laying beside him, snapped into six pieces, obviously ensuring that it couldn't be repaired. The most prominent change in the blonde idiot's appearance though, was the strange brand on his neck. It stood out swollen, angry, and red against his abnormally pale skin, Astoria could have sworn she saw it throbbing from where she sat on the teacher's desk.

Astoria knew a lot of really obscure things, but she didn't even have the slightest inkling of what the symbol meant. It was a circle that had a line diagonally extending all the way through it. She assumed that it was the brand that James had shown Malfoy earlier. It must have meant something though, if Malfoy reacted like that. She would have to ask her sister when she got out of this whole mess, she didn't like no knowing things, even if she wasn't in Ravenclaw like Daphne was now.

"Well now that that is done, we can leave." James' voice snapped Astoria out of her thoughts on the strange mark.

Astoria looked at the man that she wishes didn't have to save her, wondering why he would do it. Not save her, she had already decided on the reason that he had saved her, but aside from the reason he told Malfoy, Astoria couldn't figure out why he would do it to everyone else though.

James cleared his throat, snapping Astoria out of her thoughts, again. She let out a sigh, thinking, ' _I really have to stop zoning out like that whenever something confusing happens.'_ She looked at him, expecting to give him a piece of her mind for interrupting her thoughts like that, but she found herself surprised. James was holding his hand out to her, like he was asking for a dance.

"You were held under a paralysis charm for quite a while, your muscles are unlikely to be working properly. I can help you get back to the main hall, where your sister is waiting on you." James explained, shaking his hand for emphasis.

"Don't be stupid, I can walk just fine."

Astoria slapped James' hand away and swung her legs around and off the desk. She felt a little bit unsure of her ability to stand, but there was a no way she was accepting help from James, or anyone else for that matter. The only person she had ever accepted help from was her sister and she wanted it to stay that way.

She pushed herself off of the desk and onto her feet with no problems at all, not even a small tremble in her legs to signify them being weak. That was the reason for the triumphant smirk she shot at James, she missed his answering eye roll. It was also the reason for her complete and utter surprise when she went to take a step towards the door and her knee buckled.

Astoria didn't call out, or even bring her hands up to lessen the impact. She knew that she deserved the pain that was coming to her for being so arrogant. Her surprise wore off fast enough that she was more than able to realize that before she face-planted.

Astoria closed her eyes, just because she was willing to accept the pain she deserved didn't mean that she wanted to see it coming. Suddenly she felt her shirt tighten across her body before coming to a stop just inches before she would have met the flagstone floor.

James had apparently caught her by the collar of the shirt. He carefully pulled her back to standing before gently patting the new wrinkles out of her uniform's shirt.

"So did you want a hand getting back to your sister? I'm sure that by the time we get to where they are, you'll be walking under your own power." James smiled, patiently holding his hand out again.

Astoria didn't say anything, but she did take the offered hand. James' smile grew, but he was careful to hide that from the petite girl beside him. She would most definitely be upset if she knew that he thought it was funny.

He threw his arm around behind her, carefully holding her upright without being too physically involved. If she stumbled he would be able to be more supportive, but he knew Astoria wouldn't accept more than she absolutely needed.

Daphne was pacing worriedly ever since James had disappeared through the ceiling. Time seemed to be crawling by, seconds seem to take days to pass. She was sure that she was going to wear a trench into the ancient stone under her feet.

"Daph, please stop pacing, you're making me tired just watching you." Tracey pleaded with her, the pacing wouldn't help anything.

"I can't stop. All this nervous energy has to go somewhere and my usual outlet isn't here right now." Daphne was obviously out of sorts. She didn't even realize how those words could be taken in a less than innocent way.

Luckily for everyone that wanted to poke fun at her barely thought out words, James and Astoria rounded the corner at the top of the stairs. Daphne probably would probably react badly to being made fun of, not right now anyways, or any other time, really. Daphne didn't deal well with being made fun of at all, Tracey and James were pretty much the only people that could get away with it.

Daphne wasn't the first person to see the duo come around the corner, but she was the first person to react to their presence. She took off at a sprint, taking stairs two and three at a time, before skidding to a stop just in front of the two at the top of the steps.

James knew that she cared for her sister immensely, but he didn't think it was to the point that she would completely throw away the 'Ice Queen' persona. Yet, here she was, literally throwing herself at her sister to hug the life out of her. James could tell the it wasn't just guilt that was influencing her either, it was mostly just worry and genuine affection.

James knew that there was no way Astoria would be able to stand up to the tackle-hug that was coming her way, so he moved behind her. If she started to fall, he would catch them both, he wouldn't let either one get hurt if he could avoid it.

It turned out that he wasn't needed though, Daphne easily solved that problem herself. As she connected with her sister ice grew up from the floor and gently cradled her back, giving her the support she needed to catch the flying black haired girl.

It was an ingenious use of her power, even if it likely cost her a ton of energy. She would be completely wiped out and ready for bed in less than an hour. Still it was completely heart warming to see the stoic sisters so caught up in their reunion. The stressful situation really drove home that they didn't show each other how much they meant to each other nearly often enough.

The girls, Neville and Flitwick were all looking on with gentle smiles. It was very nice to see the two least touchy-feely people in the school be so open with how much they care about each other. Sadly, it wasn't meant to last.

"Hey Daph?" Astoria asked quietly, getting a go ahead nod from Daphne, "Why would James come to help me? Was he just trying to get in your pants?" She looked at her sister seriously.

Daphne lightly slapped her sister on the back of the head, getting a cute 'ouch' in response. "No, I asked him to look after you if I couldn't. When we were called away Neville said he would look after you as much as possible while we were gone, but he never did manage to find you apparently. His looking did manage to delay what was going to happen to you apparently."

"Well I will have to thank Neville, but that doesn't mean that he's not doing it to get into your pants." Astoria pointed out.

"Listen to this very carefully." Daphne looked into her sister's eyes until she got a serious nod back, then she took a deep steadying breath before saying, "James doesn't need to do anything to get in my pants. I've been trying to get him in them every since I met him. He refuses to allow my advances to sway his iron will. He won't sleep with me, no matter what I do and now I wait until he will allow it to happen." She whispered to her sister as quietly as possible so that no one besides James would be able to over hear them. Daphne was definitely more open now, but she still didn't want anyone to know that she regularly got shot down by James.

As much as James was enjoying the sight of the reunited sisters, he was ridiculously tired and needed to meditate to reapply the blocks on his power. He could already feel the pull on his instincts increasing. He thought that he would have a little bit more lag time before it started to amp up on him.

"Sorry girls, I need to get out of here and meditate. Astoria, you're more than welcome to spend the night in our quarters. I think it would probably be for best to be honest, the Snake Pit is going to be more than a little hectic for a few days after what happened today." James didn't wait around for any kind of answer, he started running for the back door to their quarters, he didn't want to chance running into someone his instincts would try to force himself on.

It didn't take him long to get to his room, where he promptly sat down in a lotus position and dropping into a meditative state in record time. James knew that most of the girls would be following him to make sure that he would be alright, but he hoped that between Neville and Daphne they could stall long enough for him to get his blocks back in place.

It took nearly an hour for James to get his blocks back into place. Luckily for him and everyone else, he wasn't disturbed at all while he was meditating. He didn't know what would have happened if either Daphne or Tracey were to interrupt him in the middle since he had to take them all down to rebuild them. It was ridiculously tedious, but no one knew a way to just add to the still existing blocks. That didn't mean James wasn't trying to find a way to do it, it just meant that he hadn't found a way yet. He wasn't a once in a century prodigy/powerhouse just because he could throw around more power than any five other people on the planet.

When James walked outside everyone was waiting for him. Well, not quite everyone, Neville had apparently decided to go back to his own tower to be with his friends there. Neville knew that it wasn't necessary for him to be emotional support, there were more than enough girls there for Astoria to have all the support she would need. All of the varying emotions would only cause him a headache.

"So, feeling better James?" Tracey asked with a knowing smirk.

"I see that Daphne filled you in on why I needed to take off like that." Tracey changed her smirk into a regular smile and nodded. "Good. I am feeling much better, thanks for asking."

"You're welcome, but I really wish that you would have ravaged me first. I could do with a good ravaging." Tracey pouted sarcastically.

"Maybe next time, I just wasn't quite up to ravaging tonight. Far too much happened. Maybe next time there is an emergency I won't be so tired." James wasn't as well versed in sarcasm as Tracey, but he did his best.

"Alright, I'll hold you to that." Tracey winked at James and disappeared into her and Daphne's room.

Hermione, Susan, and surprisingly Luna all came by and gave James a quick hug and a kiss on the cheek before saying goodnight and heading off to bed. James was more than a little confused about what was happening, but didn't question it at all. It felt nice.

James turned to Daphne, "So what's going on? Everyone disappeared rather quickly and left you and your surprisingly quiet little sister."

"I wanted to say thank you James. I know how much trouble it is for you to try and protect all of us. I didn't want you to think that I'm ungrateful. That we're ungrateful. We are very grateful and I wanted you to know that." Daphne delivered her most heartfelt thanks she could manage.

"Don't worry about it Daph, I knew exactly what I was getting myself into when I did this. I did expect more people to respect it, especially in the Snake Pit. The old ways are supposed to be all they think about. I guess they only care about the one's that make their lives easier."

"Regardless, we're still both very thankful for what you've done for us." Astoria finally said something. It was obvious that she was a little uncomfortable with it.

Astoria suddenly let out a giant, fly-catching yawn. She attempted to cover it up and not seem like she was slowly losing the battle with sleep.

"Astoria, take my bed. I don't think I'll be getting any sleep tonight. Just be careful to not have any wet dreams, the bedframe doesn't take kindly to that kind of action." James offered with a smile.

"Really? Thank you." Astoria took off into his room without even thinking about what he said, she stopped listening after she heard 'take my bed'.

Once the door had closed behind Astoria, Daphne looked at James and raised an eyebrow. "Did you just imply that being horny in your bed will make it attack you?"

"Yea, it's when my instincts hit me the hardest, that foggy place in between being asleep and being awake. So I set my bed up to make sure that there was no way anything happened that shouldn't happen." James explained, hoping for an interesting morning.

"So what did you want to do tonight?" Daphne asked, fighting to talk through her yawn.

"Nothing. I need to get out of the castle. This has been the longest I've been cooped up in a long time and I've still got a lot of energy to burn off." James sent a soft smile at Daphne, "Go to bed. Get some rest. I think it will probably be a really long day tomorrow, I'll likely be called into the DMLE again."

"Do you want all of us to go in with you again?" Concern was written all over her face. No matter how important and powerful James was, eventually someone would get something to stick.

"No, I'm expecting old man Malfoy to come storming in and throwing around accusations. After that I'm going to egg him on until he challenges me, then I'll do my best to kill him. The old laws are still in place, I'm a Lord and well within my rights to kill him in an officially sanctioned duel."

"Good, he deserves at least a serious ass kicking. It would be nice to see Narcissa free from her marriage. I know that she has been trying to get out of there forever, but she can't without an official Lord Black."

"Well, I guess that I'll have to fix that too." James left after seeing another yawn.

Daphne was far too tired to worry about how cryptic that last sentence was, so she decided to put it off until the morning, or possibly until it came up again. She was fairly sure that she knew exactly what he meant, but didn't know how it would be possible. There was no way that Sirius could name him acting Lord without turning himself in and he would be kissed before he ever got the chance to do anything more than breathe.

Daphne was about to finally go to sleep when she heard the light knocking on her door. Hoping that whoever it was would just go away if she didn't answer, she did nothing. Unfortunately, the mystery person, who she was quite certain was her sister, was far more persistent than she had hoped. The knocking was just about loud enough to wake Tracey and that was something she didn't particularly want to deal with, so Daphne got up, threw her dressing gown on and went to the door.

Daphne threw the door open, only barely catching it before it slammed into the armoire that was behind it. "What do you want?" She snarled at her sister, completely forgetting what she had been through already that day.

Astoria was standing in front of her with tears in her eyes, bottom lip trembling, and light snuffling escaping from her mouth, as if she had just finished a good cry.

"Sorry Daph, I'll just go back to James' room." Astoria turned to go, tears falling from her eyes again. She didn't think that her sister would be so short with her, she never had been like that before.

"Wait, Astoria, I'm sorry. I'm tired and wasn't thinking. What did you need?" Daphne quickly shot her hand out to catch her crying little sister before she could get too far.

"I can't be alone right now. I don't know why, but as soon as I went into James' room, all I could think about it what almost happened. Even now that I know I'm safe, I can't seem to get that feeling back and every time I close my eyes I see Draco standing over me, undoing his belt and sneering down at me."

Daphne knew that Astoria wasn't like her. She didn't have the mental training, or natural force of will that she did. She had also forgotten what it was like for people to be around James when they didn't have to sense of self that all the stronger witches had. His very presence could make weaker willed people, or people with less developed magic, feel as if they were completely safe, or he could make them so scared they passed out, depending on his mood.

"Do you want me to sleep with you tonight? It'll be just like old times, but this time we can eat all the ice cream we want." Daphne winked at her sister.

Daphne's weak attempt at humor earned her a watery smile, but it was still a smile. Daphne ushered her sister back into James' room, calling for a pint of ice cream from one of the many house elves that doted on James, which he still wouldn't explain to her, much to her irritation.

Daphne took a quick glance back at the door to her own room, worrying about her lover's dreams. James was supposed to be here, to keep those dreams at bay. James was definitely going to get an ear full about it later. She did understand the need for him to not be around any of the girls right now though. Just because he had the blocks back in place didn't mean that the stronger instincts still weren't affecting him. He had said it was because he had to much energy from the release, but she knew how to read between the lines.

Daphne was worried about her lover, but her sister needed her far more right now. Tracey could deal with one night of very little sleep. It was entirely too possible for her sister to not even survive the night, let alone sleep. Attempted rape for someone like her sister could definitely lead to suicide, it was something that she could let fester.

The night for Daphne saw many tears, much laughter and little sleep, but in the end she thought that her sister would be okay. Not perfect by any means. This would most assuredly leave a scar on her psyche, but she would be able to live a full life despite it. In the morning she was almost looking forward to James showing up, she was exhausted and James would make it so that she was able to go to survive the day without sleep.

"What the hell happened in here?" James was completely flabbergasted by what he saw in his room.

There were empty one pint tubs of ice cream scattered around the room. That wasn't the weirdest part though, there appeared to be a giant blanket fort where he was sure his bed was yesterday. From inside the enormous mound of blankets, James could hear two distinct, feminine snores. He knew who it was of course, their scents were all over the entire room. It was nice to see both of them so free, for a little while at least.

James decided that it was pointless to worry about anything while they were sleeping contentedly. While he usually wouldn't shower with either Daphne or Astoria in the adjacent room, he figured that this one time it would be perfectly okay. In reality he just didn't want to wait to get clean. While he didn't particularly mind being covered in dirt, he was an Earth Elemental after all, he wasn't a huge fan of being covered in his own sweat from a night of heavy exercise.

James made sure that the girls were still sleeping soundly, by the sounds of their snores they were still deep in the land of dreams, and made his way to the bathroom for a well deserved shower and moment of relaxation. Knowing his luck, it would be a rather hectic day today and he wanted as much time relaxing as he could get.

He let out a huge sigh when he thought of that, but quickly decided to put those thoughts behind him. A nice, long, hot shower was exactly what the doctor called for. James was in such a hurry to get in the shower and relax, he forgot to wait for the water to warm up.

"Ah! Fuck, that's cold." James screeched like a little girl when the nearly ice cold water hit him. "With all that magic can do, how do I still have to wait for hot water?" James ended his rant with a little some colourful swearing under his breathe, suddenly cognizant of the girls sleeping in the next room.

James spent nearly ninety minutes in blissful relaxation underneath the almost scalding water pouring from the showerhead. It was absolutely wonderful. He didn't think about anything of consequence the entire time, the most pressing thing he thought about was whether he should fully wash his hair or not. Someone had once told him that it wasn't good for your hair to shampoo it all the time and he was very proud of his hair. It was very impressive for a warrior like him to have hair that long, even if he usually put it up in a bun when he was going to have a serious fight.

James eventually had to get out of the shower, despite his intense desire to stay in the shower and forget the entire world. He gave his hair a quick once over to get a majority of the remaining water out, then wrapped the towel around his waist before leaving the bathroom. He didn't like to risk someone seeing him in his altogether. People tended to take liberties with his room at the Academy and he didn't see that stopping now that he was at Hogwarts. That wasn't even including the girls that he knew were in his room.

Astoria letting out a jaw-breaking yawn as she started to wake up. She smacked her lips as her yawn ended, rubbing the sleep out of her eyes simultaneously. She blinked in the light that was barely filtering down through the sheets that her and her sister had made into a fort before bed last night.

She just barely caught the sound of a door closing, thinking that James was finally back from wherever he had gone last night, Astoria snuck her head under the edge of the sheet to make sure that he wasn't in a bad mood before she said something. Her words stuck in her throat, though not because he was in a bad mood, but because he was half naked and dripping water.

Astoria wasn't particularly interested in the male gender, but it was something that she was coming up on. No matter how uninterested a girl was in men, if there was even a sliver of interest, James would attract it when he was like this.

Without looking away from the spectacle in front of her, Astoria blindly swung her leg around to kick her sister in her ribs. It didn't work at first, but on the third kick she managed to wake her surprisingly deep sleeping sister.

Daphne was having a wonderful dream starring James, Tracey and herself when she was woken by a sharp pain in the ribs. She was ready to come up swinging at whatever woke her, she knew it wasn't Tracey because she would kiss her awake if she woke up first, which rarely happened.

Luckily for Astoria, Daphne couldn't find her wand before she woke up completely and looked around for the fool that had woke her in such a painful way. The first thing she noticed was the blanket fort, which put a smile on her usually expressionless face. The second thing she noticed was that the sister she had fallen asleep cuddling was no longer in her arms. She was apparently awake and had turned herself around to peak out of the blanket fort.

Daphne looked down on her sister, but quickly looked away from the surprisingly arousing sight of her sister's panty-clad ass. She couldn't believe that her sister hadn't worn the pajamas that that elf, Winky, had brought her, but she wasn't going to complain about the quick look she had gotten. She didn't know that her sister had grown a plump, firm ass, but apparently she had.

What Daphne didn't notice was the growing wet spot between her legs. She had woken up sufficiently to begin moving by the time she finished thinking about her little sister's fantastic behind. She sat up a little and silently swung her body around so that she was laying the same way that Astoria was. She was hoping for her sister to feel the movement and tell her what was going on, but whatever was going on outside was more than enough to hold the petite blonde's attention.

When Daphne's head breached the edge of the cloth she understood what was holding her attention immediately. James was standing at his armoire, apparently undecided on what to wear. That wasn't the part that was captivating though, no, it was the fact that he was currently half naked with water droplets running down the hard planes of his back. Well, the parts that could be seen anyways since most of his back was covered by his midnight black hair.

Daphne had seen James like this before, but she would never turn down the chance to see it again. Unfortunately, this time she wouldn't be able to get a lot of time to enjoy the panty-wetting vision that was James Clay. Daphne would forever curse herself for forgetting something so important as the fact that James had charmed his bed.

Daphne felt something coil around both of her ankles, but before she had even thought to move, they shot up around her legs and stomach and along with the ones around her arms, they hoisted her into the air between the bed posts.

Both Daphne and her sister were pulled out from the blanket fort in the blink of an eye. Both released a scream that could wake the dead. They were both held damn near spread eagle at about eye level. Astoria had the brief hysterical thought _'I'm so glad that I kept my shirt on.'_ Daphne had a similar thought about how glad she was that she put pajamas on before bed.

James wasn't really paying attention to the sounds and smells around him after his relaxing shower. That didn't mean his reaction time was any slower than normal, if anything, it was faster than normal because he was surprised. It didn't help matters that, on a primal level deep in the recesses of his mind, James recognized one of the screams as one of his mate's.

James spun around, not caring that the towel fell from it's place around his hips. As he spun he pulled two of his larger throwing knives from within his body. He took a look around the room to assess the situation. When he saw what had happened, James couldn't help himself, he let out a deep bellowing laugh.

James laughter drew the attention of both Daphne and Astoria. James saw their heads swivel to look at him, it was more than a little strange to see them so in sync. Their movements were identical, but their reactions to the sight of James were not. Astoria's face turned a startling shade of red, but James could see her legs attempt to squirm and the root-like restraints tightened around her. She also averted her eyes in either shame or embarrassment, either because she was warned this would happen and didn't avoid it, or because she was looking on a male figure that was worthy of statues made of several stones, metals, and gems.

Daphne's reaction only included a little bit of pink around her cheeks, but it wasn't from shame or embarrassment, it was from arousal. She licked her lips at what was in front of her. She had never seen what James was packing in his pants before and it was even more glorious than she had expected it to be. Her legs were squirming even more than her sister's, but she was lucky, a thicker restraint was riding right in between her legs and she managed to get it up enough to rub her recently flooded center on it.

James noticed her movements and quickly turned around to avoid seeing any further. His instincts were back on a low simmer, but any red blooded male would have been raring to go at the sight of what Daphne was about to do and they couldn't even smell her arousal like James could.

Luckily for both James and Astoria, who didn't want Daphne to get to into it, for two entirely different reasons, the door beside James was thrown open. A mostly naked Luna, modestly clothed Hermione and Susan, and provocatively dressed Tracey barged into the room. Tracey and Susan were both brandishing their wands, expecting some sort of threat, while Luna and Hermione were ready to support them both.

James tried to cover himself up, but it was too late by the time he thought of it. Tracey and Luna both let out wolf whistles at the sight. James saw Luna's nipples harden and she licked her lips sultrily while she brought both hands up to caress the light pink tips on her chest, somehow disappearing her wand in the process.

Tracey was sure that her nipples got harder, despite how they were always hard from her piercings. She wanted to follow Luna's lead and rub them, but she got distracted by her lover's light moans. She had already experienced the bed and knew that she could do nothing but wait until James let her down. That didn't mean she couldn't have some fun while she was stuck up there.

Another, almost silent moan attracted both Hermione and Tracey's attention though. Tracey knew who it was, but she couldn't believe that Astoria had grown up so much since she had last seen her. Tracey moved in behind her and quickly massaged her pert ass and tightly muscled thighs, gaining a much louder and throatier moan out of her.

"Astoria, I didn't know you had become so dead sexy. I think I'm going to enjoy you being all tied up like this." She grinned to herself. If she could get both sisters into her bed, then all her fantasies would be fulfilled and she could die happy.

"Sorry, Tracey, but I can't leave her tied up there like that for you to play with. Not even with how much I would like to watch that happen." James didn't give her a chance to reply, he just threw his knives at each bed post after infusing them with the right power to let them down.

"Awh, you're no fun." Tracey pouted and surprisingly Susan followed suit, nobody had noticed that she was staring at Astoria with a hungry look in her eye.

A slamming sound out in the shared living room drew everyone that was currently dressed into the room. Well almost everyone was fully dressed, James also moved into the room without thinking, making sure he was in front of everyone else.

"James, the DMLE and Lord Malfoy were in the Great Hall demanding that you app…" Padma Patil trailed off as she noticed that James was standing in front of her, stark naked.

Padma was dark skinned, but you could still see the way her face lit up with a fierce blush. James saw her eyes start to flutter and _moved._ He caught the young Indian beauty before she could fall very far.

"I hate it when I'm right." James muttered to himself.

 **Alright, that's it this time. Sorry again for the delay in the update, but nice weather isn't conducive to writing. As usual, feedback is appreciated. Updates will likely be sporadic at least until the weather turns cold again.**


	9. Sorry

**Sorry everyone, but I've pretty much lost all desire to continue writing this story at this time. It's just no fun to write about someone that really has no legitimate threats. The story is up for adoption, but I will be vetting your writing if you want to take it over. I do have a large majority of the next chapter written, but I won't be posting it since I've hit a wall.**

 **If you do want to take it over, then PM me and I'll let you know.**

 **I do have another idea for a HP fic and will likely be working on that sporadically until I have enough done to post.**

 **For those that care, I will be continuing my other story, but it will be going to a slight direction change.**

 **-GrizP**

 **PS - Kudos to _The Fanfic Guardian_ for actually posting his review, not hiding behind the "guest" tag. You sir, or madam, have balls the size of bludgers and I commend you for it.  
**


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